Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students
by StarStrellaStar
Summary: Twins Isabella and Christabel are not your ordinary, everyday girls. At least that's what the teachers of FASGS, a magical school, say. Now, the two contrasting girls have to deal with their new lives and an unexpected secret that awaits them in the dark.
1. You Got Accepted to Forks Academy

_**A/N:**_** Hello my dear readers! This is now my third fanfic and I hope that you guys enjoyed it. I'm already working hard on it and this is only the first chapter. I had to change the chapter so often that my laptop started to smell burned. I had this crazy idea in my head and it just didn't work properly when I wrote it down and it cost me many sleepless nights to finally finish this chapter.**

**I hope you guys like my crazy new idea and I hope that you like Bella's twin sister. It wasn't easy to invent Chris and I'm still not quite happy with her, but that could be because she got too many traits from me. But what can I said? The craziness had to come from somewhere, and so she got it from me. Please don't hate me for that. Okay, anyway, let's start the show! You know what time it is (I really hope you do have I have no idea. After 5:55AM, I got scared and stopped looking).**

_**Disclaimer:**_** If we were a movie, **_**Twilight**_** would be mine and Bella would be Edward's best friend that he won't fall in live with. In the end no one is happy because I don't own **_**Twilight**_** lalala, lalala, that doesn't make any sense. (If you know what song I just raped, you should let me know! ;D).**

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**Bella POV**

"Oh my God, Chris, look at this! This is freaking awesome!" I shouted as I darted into the kitchen where my twin sister was having breakfast. Our mom was in the kitchen as well, but I ignored her just this once.

"Did we win the lottery?" Chris' lame question made me roll my eyes at her.

"No, even better. We've been accepted to the Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students," I shrieked, jumping up and down while holding out the letter to her. This letter had caused all of this excitement for me.

"When did we apply there?" Chris asked, sounding bored rather than excited.

"We didn't," I replied. "But we got in."

"Where is this place anyway?"

"I don't know...in Forks?"

"And Forks is where?" she asked. I shrugged. I may have been quite good at Geography, but I still didn't know where Forks was.

"Sweetheart," Mom piped. "Would you mind explaining to us why you are so excited over something that you don't know even one thing about?"

"It's a private boarding school," I answered nonchalantly, handing her the letter. She read it, and within two minutes, she was just as excited as I was.

She squealed. "My babies have been accepted to an _elite_ school. This is amazing!" she exclaimed, jumping up and embracing me in a tight hug.

"Oh man, seriously, am I the only who is confused about this? How do they even know us?" Chris interrupted.

Normally, she would be just as excited as I was, but she clearly was not in a good mood today. I was positive it was because her boyfriend broke up with her yesterday.

When no one gave her an answer, she got up, mumbling something under her breath and vanished from the room to get ready for school.

"O-M-G, Chris, I heard that Alex dumped you yesterday because of _Sharon Tony_." Raven, our best friend, came rushing toward us with a her face contorted into an expression of shock and disbelief. Actually, everyone who stood in the corridor at this moment looked shocked. I shook my head at them, silently wondering if any of them had their own problems to deal with, but even I had to admit that it was a very stupid idea to dump my sister for Sharon Tony.

"I don't want to talk about it," grumbled Chris.

"So he really did, didn't he? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I mean, look at you, and look at Sharon," Raven said.

In a way, Raven was right. Chris was by far the most beautiful girl in our school, and even though we were supposed to be identical twins, we looked nothing alike. When we were little, we looked nearly identical, but somehow it had changed over the years. When we were young, we both had the same dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, like our father. Now, my hair was deep, dark chocolate brown down to my waist, and Chris' was black. We still shared the same natural curls, but Chris' eyes had drastically changed as well. They were very light now, sort of like honey, and were more almond-shaped, giving her more of a cat-like look and making her irresistible to guys. Mine were still the same plain shape — sort of like wannabe almond — and they were a melted milk chocolate color.

Yet, that still wasn't the biggest difference between us.

Once upon a time, we had the same fair-skinned complexion with only a _very_ slight tan from the Phoenix sun. But as the years passed, my skin became even paler, more like translucent cream, and I somehow lost the ability to tan. Chris, on the other hand, became a slight bit darker, but she didn't look like she got the tint from the sun. Instead, it made her skin look like it was naturally glowing. I always told her that she was caramel-colored, but our mom said she looked "cafe-au-lait." Either way, she could now pass as a Brazilian princess or something like that. The only thing that were pretty much the same, were our bodies. We had the same curves, and I was very satisfied with that, even though there was still slight differences. Chris had more butt than I did, but that's something she got from mom. Basically, Chris was extremely beautiful and Sharon was just another blond volleyball player. She wasn't ugly, but she most definitely did not reach Chris' level of beauty. Then again, nobody did, not even me — her own twin.

Still, Raven was only partly right. I was sure that the reason had to do with Alex being unable to handle Chris' forceful nature. He was the kind of guy who needed to protect a girl, while Chris was an independent woman who did not want to be tied to people. The only person she really held onto was me, and there were several reasons for that.

I was about to join in on Raven and Chris' conversation, which had strayed from the recent break up of Alex and Chris' relationship, when one of our classmates, Tyler, came up to us. He was known for having a huge crush on me, which is why Chris chuckled lightly when he walked toward us.

"Hey Tyler, what's up?" I asked him casually, trying to ignore his obvious nervousness.

"Um, hey...I'm supposed to tell you that you and Chris are wanted in the headmasters office," he said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"Why?" Chris asked, not bothering to disguise the annoyance in her voice. She probably feared that the headmaster was going to blame her for something...again. She was always getting into trouble for things that she claimed she hadn't done. I wasn't always so sure about that, but there were times that I had been present in situations where really weird things happened.

"I dunno," he mumbled, giving me a shy look as he did.

Chris let out an exasperated sigh and dragged me along to the headmasters office. She entered without taking the time to knock, and pulled me in behind her.

"I didn't do anything!" Chris shouted as soon as she had closed the door behind us. I groaned at her and turned to look at the headmaster, only to see that the headmaster wasn't even there.

Where usually our short and stout headmaster sat, was seated a beautiful dark-skinned man with black dreadlocks.

"Err...we're here to see the headmaster. I'm sorry, I guess we should have knocked, but my sister isn't really known for her patience," I rambled.

"It's quite alright," he answered. "I was the one who asked to see you." He gestured for us to sit down. I quickly glanced at Chris, who eyed the beautiful stranger with a wary expression on her face. I took my seat, but Chris simply leaned forward to look him in the eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked. He chuckled at her boldness.

"I am Laurent Decour," he stated, holding his hand out. He didn't even flinch the slightest bit when Chris got closer, making their faces a little too close for my taste. Chris ignored rudely ignored his hand, finally deciding to sit down next to me. Mr. Decour laughed again and shook his head at her.

"So, what do you want from us?" I asked cautiously. His eyes flicked to me and a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"I am one of the teachers at Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students," he replied. When he saw my expression to one of understanding, he continued, "I'm assuming you've already received the letter?"

I nodded while Chris huffed.

"What do you want from us, Laurent?" Chris asked, sounding bored as she blew a strand of her curly black hair from her face. Her mood was _very_ sour today.

"My students call me Mr. Decor," he noted simply, his eyes not even shifting to where Chris sat. I observed that he had a slight French accent, though that didn't surprise me all that much, given his name sounding like it was of French origin.

"Well, I'm not your student," she snapped, causing Mr. Decour to shake his head and release more chuckles. The sound of his laughter was a bit off — sort of tense — as if he didn't laugh often.

"Of course you are," he replied as if it were an extremely obvious thing. "After this summer you will be attending the academy in Forks."

"Why did you even choose us? I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but how come you think that we are 'special gifted'?" I asked.

"Aside from the fact that you both have nothing less than straight A's, we simply know." He smiled knowingly, almost as if there was some big secret that he knew and we didn't. He was right, though, even if Chris didn't care much for school, she was still very good, and so was I. We had always been the top of our class. Even in kindergarten.

"What kind of school is it? I mean I get that it's a boarding school and apparently only for elite, but what separates it from others?" Chris asked, now sounding like her usual self.

"You will each gain the required education," Mr. Decour answered with a mysterious smile.

"What if I don't want to go?"

"You have to."

"But why?" Chris cried, exasperated.

"Because you must go to advance your abilities."

"Um, no offense, but I kind of agree with Chris. Why do we need to go? Are we not allowed to decide for ourselves if we wish to go to this advanced school?" I asked, finally getting rid of my shyness.

Mr. Decour looked at each of us and took a deep breath. "Do you remember the incident that occurred eight months ago?" he asked, then elaborated, "When you rescued a student from the fire in the school?"

I frowned. How did he know that?

"How do you know that?" Chris asked, voicing my thoughts.

Mr. Decour simply shrugged, got out of his seat, and began pacing. I eyed him carefully — something about him was very strange.

"Do you remember exactly what you did that day?" he asked.

"Sure," Chris said. "I got up, ate breakfast, went to school, and saved a girl from the flames." That was her standard answer when someone asked about that day, because it actually had been rather strange and both of us were beginning to question our sanity.

"Is is true that you were the original cause of the fire?" he asked Chris. That was a very dangerous topic. Some people swore that they had seen her setting the fire, but I had actually been there and no such thing happened.

"No, the fire started on it's own. It wasn't my fault that my Bunsen burner happened to be defective," Chris shouted.

"And you happened to be angry at someone at the exact moment that happened," Mr. Decour noted.

How did he know this? He was right, though, but it was still starting to creep me out.

Chris frowned and answered, "Yes, I was. That idiot Paul wouldn't shut up. He kept bragging about how he had gotten me into bed the day before — which wasn't even true — and when he sat down in front of me and I heard him talking about it with his friend, I got angry. When we started the lab, he turned around and asked me if 'my ass was still hurting from all the spanking he did the night before'. I sort of lost it then. I wanted so badly to scream at him, but instead, the Bunsen burner spat that giant flame out and it reached the ceiling, and the next thing I knew, everything was on fire."

I nodded in agreement, silently confirming that Chris was telling the story exactly how it happened.

"How did you feel in that moment?"

Chris and I looked at Mr. Decour in confusion, but she answered him anyway. "I don't really remember to be honest. At first I was angry, and then...I'm not sure...relieved, maybe? And when the ceiling started to burn, I felt like passing out, but I guess it was the shock."

Mr. Decour nodded. For a few moments, it was silent.

"What does any of this have to do with Forks Academy?" I asked when the silence had finally began to bother me.

"Tell me _exactly_ what you did and felt during the rescue," he said to me, ignoring my question as if I hadn't even asked it.

I took a deep breath before answering. "The building had been evacuated and we were all standing in the parking lot in front of the school. Chris was still feeling a little bit dizzy, and I also felt a bit off. Then something really strange happened...it was like a spark or something going through me, and suddenly Chris was gone. I didn't even bother asking if anyone had seen her, I just followed the strange pull I felt because I felt like Chris needed my help and my body seemed to know exactly where she was.

"She had gone through the fire and back into the building because there was a girl trapped in the flames, even though at that point I didn't know this. I don't remember much after going inside, just knowing that Chris needed help...but I think that the flames were everywhere _except_ around me. I remember that, at the time, I had thought that they were shying away from me. After a few minutes, I was able to find Chris and Mia — the girl that had been trapped inside. Chris wasn't in danger, she just needed help getting Mia out since the flames were all around them and dangerously close to Chris. She told me to get help, but I was in a panic because the strange pull was gone and I had finally realized what I was doing. I was so scared because it seemed like the flames were already on Chris' skin and I didn't want her getting hurt. I went into hysterics, wishing that I could help her somehow.

"At some point, I felt like fainting, and then suddenly one of the nearby drinking fountains exploded and the fire that was surrounding Chris and Mia was quenched. We managed to get Mia through the rest of the fire because, for some reason, the flames went out of my path and they didn't seem to bother Chris at all. We got out of the school and were driven to the hospital as soon as the fire brigade arrived. None of us were harmed, thankfully, and so we were allowed to go home the next day. I was a bit surprised, though, because I could have sworn that I had seen Chris getting burned..." I closed my eyes as I finished. The memory of our little adventure had given me a headache and this stranger was...strange.

Chris glanced at her watch and grimaced slightly.

"There you have your reason as to why you must attend FASGS," Mr. Decour said as he sat down.

"Attend what?"

I rolled my eyes at Chris and Mr. Decour ignored her.

"What kind of reason is that anyway? We saved someone — so what? Shit like that happens all the time," Chris continued when no one answered her.

Mr. Decour sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, but it is not all the time that two girls manipulate the elements of fire and water the way you two did."

I heard Chris' disbelieving snort.

I was just completely confused. "Are you trying to tell us that we can do some kind of weird elemental magic or something like that?" I asked in disbelief.

"In a way, yes. Although you are able to do more than simply play with fire and water, but you would learn more about the depth of your abilities in at the academy."

Chris' snort had turned into a full-blown laugh at this point, and even I was having a difficult time keeping my cool. Mr. Decour simply watched us with curious eyes. His expression, however, reminded me somehow of a scientist who had just discovered a long lost secret.

"So this school is like Hogwarts?" Chris asked. "Do you have the letter here, Bella? If it was sealed with wax, then you should have been able to figure this out much earlier." She was still laughing as I fished the letter out of my bag and handed it to her with a chuckle.

She quickly read the letter, huffing when she finished. "Seriously, I don't get why you and mom were this excited — this letter says nearly nothing," she complained as she handed the letter back to me.

I read it again.

_Dear Ms. Swan,_

_We are very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to the Senior High School Department of Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students._

_This is a very great honor and it is not offered often — we are sure that you will be appreciative of our generosity._

_After the end of this summer, you will be one of our many elite students and you will be granted the education that is suitable for you._

_We hope that this is in your best interest._

_We will supply you with more extensive information as soon as we receive word that you have accepted this offer._

_In hopes of seeing you soon,_

_Aro Volturi_

_Principal of Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students_

After reading the letter again, I realized that I had no idea why I had been so excited when I first read it. But there was still something in my mind that was telling me that it would be in our best interest to go to this school.

Mr. Decour was glancing confusedly between Chris and I.

"Did you get separate letters?" he asked, frowning.

I shook my head. The letter had been addressed to both me and Chris. I showed him the envelope with our names on it. I felt a bit strange, sort of like something was clouding my mind.

He quickly looked at the envelope and his frown deepend. "Will you accept the offer to go to the FASGS? Yes or no?" he asked, looking at me as if he already knew what my answer would be.

"Yes," I answered immediately, with absolutely no hesitation. I was confused because that hadn't been what I wanted to answer — I wasn't really sure about this whole concept.

"No," Chris answered, sending a look full of disbelief in my direction.

I didn't know what to say, so I just sank back in my chair.

"Ah, just what I suspected. The letter contains a coercion spell as well as an excitement spell to make it seem like it was your own decision." He sighed and handed me a little candy-looking thing. I stared at it, not completely sure what he wanted from me, meanwhile my head began feeling heavier by the minute. "Eat it — it will make the headache go away."

"No, don't eat it. He's obviously crazy and I don't want him to drug you and rape you later." Chris held my hand down, stopping me from taking the candy and putting it in my mouth.

"Why are the ordinary borns always so difficult?" I heard Mr. Decour mumble under his breath before he pulled a folder out of a drawer.

"Let's see...Christabel Haley Swan, you got detention for tripping your Biology teacher when he gave you back homework which he graded with a low C."

"He tripped over nothing in particular — they only blamed it on me because I had been angry and laughing at him," Chris argued.

"You pushed Karen George's face into her food after she insulted you," he continued.

"No, I didn't. I wasn't even close enough to do that. You can ask Bella, she was standing right beside me."

I nodded slowly, confirming that she was indeed telling the truth.

"You poured water over the librarian when she kicked you and your sister out of the library."

"The glass tipped over on it's own," Chris replied.

"These are all rather strange incidents, don't you think? Now, shall I read the list of Isabella's punishments as well?"

"No," I groaned. I knew that I only had two incidents, but they weren't all that different from Chris'.

"Are you telling me that all of these incidents were 'magic' related?" Chris asked warily, with a small hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"If you think about it, you should be able to remember being irritated in those moments. You most likely thought of doing the exact things that happened."

I could see in Chris' expression that Mr. Decour was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

"I never thought about pouring water over the librarian," Chris said. "I wanted her to choke on the water because has the most annoying voice in the world."

"I wanted to pour water on her," I admitted quietly. Two sets of eyes flashed to me. I heard as Chris let out a sigh and felt as something strange passed through me. It felt like surrender. I shook it off and concentrated on the voice in my head that was constantly trying to convince me that I wanted to go to the academy.

"She should eat the cleanser right now," Mr. Decour said. "Otherwise the thought will remain permanently in her head. I'm sure that you want your sister to be able to decide on her own free will." He smiled kindly at Chris, revealing a set of perfect pearly whites.

Chris let go of my hand and I quickly grabbed the candy and shoved it in my mouth. It tasted very bitter and I wanted to spit it out instantly, but I felt my mind beginning to clear up again and the candy was already gone.

"What was that?" I asked, shaking my head to get rid of any excess dizziness.

"A cleanser — it breaks mind manipulation spells."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, her voice sounding tired.

Mr. Decour smiled at her surrender. "The letter contained a spell, as I said earlier. It was meant to make you want to go Forks, even if you truly didn't. Normally, this isn't done, but apparently Aro has already guessed that you would be difficult to convince. What I'm thoroughly confused about is why you are not under the spell." He looked curiously at Chris. "Who else touched the letter?"

"I gave it to our mom after I read it," I answered.

"Ah, that would explain it. Well, now just be sure not to give her the letter again — otherwise the second spell will take effect."

"Do you mind explaining, Napoleon?" Chris asked before I even had the chance to think the question. She received a funny look because of the nickname, but he otherwise ignored it.

"The first two people to touch the letter should have been hit with the excitement spell. If the exact same people touch the letter again, then the mind manipulating spell takes part and makes you think that you want to go to the school. That's what it did to Isabella. The spell takes only a few minutes and at first, it's not all that strong — only a short passing thought — but then the person will get a headache because the thought begins to literally force itself into your mind and doesn't go away until you are completely convinced that it is your own thought. As long as that hasn't happened, you can get rid of the spell by eating a so-called 'cleanser'. It is also a spell, but it pushes out everything that does not belong to your own mind."

"Who makes such things?" I asked. This was beginning to interest me, even if it was all still very confusing.

"Actually, I have already told you too much. You must first agree to go to the academy, then I will be able to tell you anything you wish to know about our world. You should decide today because tomorrow is your last day of school, and then you have your summer vacations and I'm sure that you'll want to start on time in the new school year, so if that's the case, we'll have to sign you up tomorrow."

"Why didn't we get the letter earlier?" That would have seemed much more plausible to me. It would have been better than rushing a decision like this.

"We weren't sure if you were suited for the school, so the decision took longer than it should have," Mr. Decour said. "Please make your decision during the day and let me know as soon as possible."

"How are we supposed to contact you?" Was he going to sit in his office all day?

"I'm going to pay you a little visit at home. You are not supposed to talk about anything we've discussed, not even to your parents. The official story is that you've been accepted because your impressive grades called our attention, since we are always looking for new suitable students."

"You should've told us the same story. It would've saved you a lot of trouble, Napoleon," Chris said dryly and I agreed with her. I would've agreed instantly if that had been the explanation for this mysterious acceptance.

"I guess it would have, but then you may have run off later on. And might I ask why you are calling me Napoleon?"

For the first time today, I saw a confused expression on his beautiful face. Somehow I got the feeling that confusion wasn't one of the most dominant feelings for him. As I looked at him, I started to wonder why she was calling him Napoleon, too. He most definitely was not short, and with his dark skin and dreadlocks, he didn't even look like him. Bob Marley would be a more fitting person, though he looked much better than Bob.

"I tried to come up with something French and that was the first thing that popped into my head. I guess I could have called you beret or baguette, but that just doesn't seem right."

"And you find Napoleon to be adequate?" I started to question Chris' sanity.

She simply shrugged. "I'll think of something else, but what am I supposed to call him until then?"

"Try his name," I suggested, feeling a bit annoyed.

Mr. Decour just shook his head. I started to get the feeling that we were the first ones who ever received these kinds of reactions from him.

"Right. So, we're allowed to go now?"

Mr. Decour nodded.

"Bye, Mr. Decour," I said kindly and offered him a handshake.

He looked at me as if he couldn't believe that I didn't have the same manners, or lack thereof, as my sister. But he took my hand anyway. "I'll see you this evening," he said. Every emotion he'd been showing up until now was gone and replaced by a smooth politeness. That was probably how he usually was because I was pretty sure that we'd almost pushed him over the edge of his self control.

Chris was already at the door, holding it open for me. I quickly stepped out and heard Chris shout, "See ya, Laurent," before she closed the door behind her.

All I could do was shake my head at her.

"So, what do you think of this?" I asked my sister as we strolled to class. We walked as slowly as we could and in the direction of our next class because neither one of us wanted to be present for the last ten minutes of Mr. Banners biology class.

"I think he's crazy."

"But maybe he's telling the truth. You know, it would explain some of the things that happen around us."

"Like what? The day when you came in crying because Sean broke up with you and all the dishes in the kitchen starting shaking? When I said 'Maybe it's magic', you looked at me like I was nuts and then you mumbled something about an earthquake."

"Well, maybe it wasn't an earthquake."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Well, I was thinking. Maybe I'd believed it this whole time, but I was suppressing it because it seemed ridiculous. I mean, do you remember that day when your hair was hanging in the candle flame for a few minutes but it never started burning? I had to convince Mom that it only _looked_ like your hair was in the fire, but she didn't believe me because she'd clearly seen it and so had I."

Chris sighed in defeat. "Okay, let's assume that we really are some freaky witches or something. Why are they interested in us now? We're almost sixteen. Couldn't they have found us earlier? By the way, I still don't see how they found us in the first place."

"I have a theory. They probably found us because of the rescue eight months ago. You know everyone was confused how we'd gotten in and out again without a single scratch on us. As a matter of fact, we shouldn't have been able to get out because the whole place was on fire. Since this was on the news, I guess that's how people in Forks found out. But maybe I'm just mistaken and this Mr. Decour is some kind of stalker who needed a reason to take us with him to Forks where he'll lock us in a basement and—"

"Okay, okay, I get it. We're freaks. Now that we've settled that, I want to ask you something. Do you sometimes feel some kind of strange emotion pulse through you and know that it's not your own?" I couldn't read the expression on Chris' face.

"Whose emotions are they if they're not yours?"

"Actually, I think they're yours. Maybe it's a twin thing or maybe I'm just crazy, but sometimes I get urges that don't belong to me. It's only happened like three times or so—" while Chris was rambling, I had a tiny epiphany.

"Earlier in the office, you surrendered after I admitted that I want to pour water on our stupid librarian."

"Yeah, I did. How do—" she stopped and I saw relief cross Chris' face for a second before it was replaced by confusion.

"So you feel it too, don't you? Maybe I'm not crazy, then, but I still wonder what it is. Hopefully it's not more of this freaky magic—"

"I really feel like we should go to this school," I cut her off.

Chris watched me warily. "Are you sure? It's not some leftover from this psycho spell, is it?"

"No, it's not. I honestly think we should go. You know, neither of us are being properly challenged in this school, and you've always wanted to go to a boarding school anyway. Plus you'd be far away from Alex and you'd have a whole new bunch of boys to seduce." I knew my sister well enough to know that she'd agree to this whole thing once I gave her enough of a reason to go. Besides, she'd never stay in this school if I wasn't there anymore.

"I don't seduce boys, I just like to flirt a lot," Chris said. "I would've gotten a whole new bunch of boys anyway, since we're going to senior high after this summer." Chris threw me an unimpressed look. I had to try harder. She seemed to know what I was about to do and held up a hand. "If you want to convince me, you need to try a lot harder than that. Unless you can provide me with a really good reason, there's absolutely no way I'm leaving beautiful sunny Phoenix for a town named after a utensil. Along with the fact that neither of us knows where that is should tell you that it's some one-horse town in the middle of nowhere. So, you can do some research on this school while I try to enjoy our second to last day of junior high." As soon as she was done talking, the bell rang and hundreds of students came rushing out of their classrooms, hurrying to get to their next periods. Since we were already standing in front of our classroom, we simply entered and took our seats.

It was actually quite pointless for us to even be here. We weren't going to learn anything, and nobody even cared what we did. Our school completely sucked at planning. Somehow they'd managed to hold all of the farewell parties last week. We'd already "graduated" last week, too, but we weren't officially allowed out of school yet. So basically we all just sat here wasting our time because of some stupid error in the planning system. This hadn't been how I'd imagined the end of junior high, but at least there was an end.

"Hey guys," Raven greeted as she walked up to us. "How was your talk with the headmaster?" With her black hair and black clothes, she truly looked like a raven today.

"Oh, we didn't even talk to the headmaster. There was this crazy guy who just told us some nonsense—"

I quickly kicked Chris under the desk to shut her up.

"Ow," she whined. "Why did you kick me?"

I gave her a pointed look and she mouth "oops" as she remembered. _Yeah, well, 'oops' isn't going to help, Chris._

Raven looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"It wasn't nonsense," I said defensively. "What he was talking about, I mean."

"Well who was he and what did he talk about?" Raven pressed impatiently.

Our teacher, Mrs. Penningham entered then, but nobody bothered to pay attention to her. She was our English teacher and she was really the only teacher who actually tried to teach us anything during our last week of school. Right now she was writing something on the board. We all knew that she'd start shouting at us as soon as she was done, but still, no one cared.

Chris wanted to answer Raven's question, but I was faster than her for once.

"We got a letter from this elite academy today. It said that they were offering us a place ther—"

"What? Like a scholarship?" I heard someone interrupt.

I turned to see that everyone in the classroom, aside from Mrs. Penningham, was eavesdropping on our conversation. The person who had interrupted me was Daisy Rinaldi, and she actually had a good point because honestly, I hadn't even thought of that.

"Why yes, of course," Chris used my moment of silence to answer the question herself. "They're so impressed with our grades that not only did they send us an acceptance letter, but they also sent one of their teachers to ask us if we wanted to go to their school." The way she spoke made it sound as if the school were desperate to have us there. That was actually probably her intention.

"What kind of people go to this school? I bet it's full of snobs and rich kids," another one of our classmates said.

I wanted to answer, but I was a bad liar, so I let Chris do the talking since we both knew that lies came from her lips as effortlessly as the truth. Luckily Raven and I were the only ones who knew that.

"Partly yes, but those are just the ones who bought their way in. All the others are specifically chosen based on special abilities," Chris smiled a somewhat arrogant smile and I guessed it was because she was getting so much attention for something she knew she could lie about.

This smile always appeared on her face when she played all high and mighty and everyone believed her. She enjoyed lying far too much. The thing was, Raven knew this too, and she looked at Chris suspiciously.

"And how did they get to you?" she asked warily.

This time, it was me who answered. "Apparently they keep watch on schools all over the country because they're always on the lookout for more, new special gifted students. And somehow, we caught their eyes."

As long as I was telling something similar to the truth, I was rather convincing. And since Raven knew that I couldn't lie to save my own life, she lost the skeptical look on her face. Instead, her face turned sad.

"Are you going to go to this school?"

I understood Raven's sadness completely. We had been best friends since the third grade, and we'd already been so excited to start all over in a new school together. Chris also saw Raven's face and her smile instantly fell like she was Paris Hilton on the red carpet. She patted Raven's cheek lightly.

"We haven't decided yet, but we have to decide today and as soon as we do, we'll call you, alright?"

Raven nodded sadly.

"This is an educational institution, not some skatepark! If you want to fuck around, do it in your own spare time, but not during my lessons!"

Ah, and there was the screaming that we all knew was coming. It caused everyone to jump and sit up straight in their chairs. Mrs. Penningham started to explain whatever she had written on the board. Chris passed me a note.

_Is she allowed to say "fuck" during class?_ Raven had written.

Chris had already written an answer. _Why not? Everyone else says it too, as soon as she enters the room._

I quickly scribbled a reply. _Maybe even her parents thought that when she was born._

"That's harsh," Chris chuckled in my ear after she read what I'd written.

I simply shrugged and pretended as if I were listening to what Mrs. Penningham was saying.

When we arrived home after school, we found Mom running around the house, frantically cleaning from top to bottom like a maniac.

"Um...hey Mom," I greeted her carefully when she dashed passed us.

"Oh, hello my little puppies. How was school?" she yelled from the kitchen.

"Fine. We—" Chris started, but stopped when we entered the kitchen, only to see our mother rush into the living room.

"Mom? Why are you cleaning as if you're some kind of neat freak?" I asked cautiously as I sat down my back.

"No, no, no, not there. I just cleaned everything there. Would you be so kind as to bring your bags upstairs right away? Thanks." Somehow she managed to appear in front of me and vanish again as soon as she was done talking.

I looked at Chris, at a loss for words. She had a similar expression on her face as she merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Mom!" Chris yelled after a few more minutes of watching her bound around the house like she were on drugs or something. She was zipping around like the energizer bunny.

Mom stopped dead in her tracks and turned to us slowly.

"Would you mind explaining why you are cleaning the house like a crazy person?" I asked her kindly, knowing that Chris would have asked an incredibly rude question.

"Oh, I thought you already knew," Mom said breathlessly. "This Mr. Decour called when you were at school and said that he would come over tonight. He works for this elite school which—"

"Mom, we already know him, and there's no need to clean this place like some insane stain killer. He's not the king, you know. Plus, it already looks great in here anyway, so you should just relax and maybe concentrate on making dinner or something," Chris whispered gently and stroke Mom's head.

Mom seemed to come out of her madness only to go insane over the next thing. "Oh my goodness, you are so right, Bum Bum. He is coming over for dinner. I have to start cook right away!" And with that, Mom hustled into the kitchen and got to work.

"Mom," Chris whined. "I thought I told you not to call me 'Bum Bum'."

I snickered at that. Mom had called her that since we were five because Chris' butt had always been a bit bigger than everyone elses. When we were little, some kids teased her about it, and now it was one of her most appealing features. Everyone liked to stare at her ass, even the girls. Raven sometimes called her J. Lo because of that and because Chris liked to sing.

"You shouldn't laugh, my dear Belly Flop," Chris sneered.

I instantly shut up.

"Girls, are you dressed properly?" Mom yelled from downstairs.

"Sure, sure, Mom," I reassured her, even though it was hardly the case. I was just shutting off the computer, sitting in my hotpants and tank top while Chris was in her baggy jeans and a crop top. She was laying on her bed, busily typing away on her Sidekick.

"Should we get dressed?" she asked me lazily.

I scanned us both quickly. "Nah, we're fine. It's probably enough considering Mom's wearing her red tube dress and Dad will be in his work clothes."

Chris chuckled. Mom wouldn't allow Dad to get changed into something comfortable, which wouldn't make him too happy. Dad was the Chief of Police and he was always happy to get out of his work clothes so he could sit in front of the TV and relax. Well, today that wasn't going to happen.

The doorbell rang.

"He's here, he's here," I heard Mom sing from downstairs as she quickly shuffled to the door.

Meanwhile, I was dragging Chris down the stairs.

"You know, you never managed to convince me to go to this stupid boarding school," she noted.

"That's because I just finished my research five minutes ago, and you were listening to music, but don't worry, I'll make sure you hear everything about this school and then you'll finally agree with me."

"You were researching this school on the internet? Why all the secrecy if they have a website?"

"It's probably a cover. I think parents might be a bit confused if their children just disappeared to a school that doesn't exist."

"Do you think Hogwarts has a website? Or maybe Sky High? I should check that out later."

I rolled my eyes at Chris and came to a half in front of Mom, Dad, and Mr. Decour. They'd been about to go into the dining room before we showed up. Mom was indeed wearing her red tube dress, and she was glaring at us for not putting on our "cute white dresses." Dad was wearing one of his much-hated suits and giving us an envious glare. Mr. Decour was more or less dressed up in a pair of dark jeans, a nice crisp white button-down shirt, and he even had his dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail. But he didn't look as over-dressed as my parents, or as under-dressed as Chris and I.

"Laurent, how nice to see you for the second and last time," Chris exclaimed.

Laurent quickly studied her with a strange expression, but didn't comment on her greeting.

"Good evening, Mr. Decour," I said, being the well-behaved child I was.

He smiled politely at me and greeted me in return.

After that, we entered the dining room. We didn't use the dining room often because we were comfortable eating at the kitchen table, but this was a 'special' occasion.

"Was he checking me out?" Chris murmured in my ear.

"No, you idiot, he was scanning you. I don't think a grown man like him would check out a fifteen-year-old nuisance like you," I whispered back before taking my seat.

Chris sat down beside me, opposite of Mr. Decour or Laurent or whatever she plans to call him now.

Mom served the food, and at first the conversation was just the same old boring adult small talk. When it came time to eat the desert, the real topic was brought up.

"So, my wife tells me that my daughters have been accepted into the elite school that you work for," Dad said casually.

"Yes, indeed they've been accepted."

"How exactly did they earn this honor?"

"Well, they are excellent students, and our school is always looking for promising young people to facilitate."

"Ah, yes, we really do have two shiners here," Dad agreed with his eye-crinkling grin.

"How did you find out about our two little geniuses?" Mom asked curiously.

"We have partner schools all over the country, and we're always being informed of students whom stand out. The twins happened to go to one of said partner schools," Mr. Decour answered lightly.

After what I'd found out, this really was the truth. Well, at least that's what they had written on their website, but that could also be a lie.

"Is this whole thing something like a scholarship?" I heard Chris asked. She seemed to be interested in this after all.

"Yes, exactly. Even though your parents have to pay for you school uniforms," Mr .Decour was something close to surprised that Chris had actually managed to ask a normal question in a semi-polite tone.

"What? We'd have to wear uniforms? There is no way I am going to that place," Chris grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Every trace of surprise was immediately wiped from Mr. Decour's face.

I chuckled slightly. "Chris, it's really not that bad. We're allowed to take the uniform off after classes, and they're actually pretty cute; a blue skirt, and a white blouse."

Everyone looked at me in surprise, aside from Chris. She wasn't at all convinced that the uniforms were cute.

"I did some research," I explained and noted that Mr. Decour seemed rather pleased by that.

"So why should we send our girls off to an elite private school? I'd like to keep them close," Dad said.

"Dad, it's an advanced school," I spoke before Mr. Decour could even open his mouth. "I know you're going to say that the school we chose is advanced as well, but Chris and I were still very unchallenged. In this school, we would be among kids who are just as smart as we are. The lessons have a very different standard, and lots of subjects are taught by fully-trained faculty members. We can even choose to learn three out of six foreign languages. We can choose between Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese, and Arabic. Plus, it's not only high school. The campus includes an elementary school, junior and senior high school—" I took a deep breath, "—and college." The moment I'd mentioned the word 'college', I knew it'd be easy to win Dad over and I was right. He actually looked like he was considering it. "And Dad, you wouldn't have to pay for it because the scholarship includes college," I added softly.

Now he looked as if he were about to burst into happy tears. I'd never really gotten Dad's fears about having to pay for college. We had more than enough money to afford it, but Dad saw it a bit differently.

"Well, that is, of course, a very persuasive argument. After all, I want both of you to create something great with your intelligence, and this sounds like just the right place." Dad was smiling proudly at us, and Mom bobbed her head in agreement.

Chris had just finished sulking and now sat there with a thoughtful expression.

"There's nothing more I can add to that, I suppose. The only thing that holds me here is the decision from the girls." Mr. Decour's slight accent rang out a tiny bit stronger than usual when he said that.

Our parents turned to look at us.

"I think you should go, my little candy girls. It would be the best thing for you. You would learn so many things, and not just anybody gets a chance like this," Mom cooed, smiling gently.

"Can we think about it for a couple of minutes?" Chris' voice sounded a bit off. She was lost in her thoughts.

"Yes, of course, darling. Why don't you and Mr. Decour head into the living room and your father and I will clean up real quick?" Mom suggested.

I gave her a quick nod.

We led Mr. Decour into the living room, and as soon as we were alone, Chris snapped out of her thoughtfulness. She turned hastily and looked at Mr. Decour.

"Okay, Monsieur Niveau. Is any of this even true?" she waved at me while she asked.

"What she said about the school? Yes, it's true. We actually do have an advanced program in the school because you have to learn a bit more than just the usual classes," he answered calmly.

"Yeah, yeah, all this magic crap, I get it. I'm not really sure if I believe it, but going to an advanced school does sound more interesting..."

"So, you agree to go?"

"Is there anything special we should know before going?" Chris asked, dodging his question.

"Well, there are a lot of things you should know, but you'll learn everything once you get there."

"There really is a college?"

"Yes."

"And it's not an all-girls school, right?"

"No."

I groaned in understanding and Chris just smirked at me.

"Okay, we'll go. Congratulations, Laurent, you've managed to break me," Chris said.

"You know, now that you've accepted, you will have to call me Mr. Decour."

"Yeah, maybe. I'll think about it."

He shook his head. "I guess I better go get the application forms for your parents to sign," He quickly left the room.

A moment later, our parents entered.

"Where is Mr. Decour?"

"He went to get the application forms for you to sign," Chris sighed.

"So you agreed?" Mom asked excitedly.

We nodded in unison and Dad smiled proudly at us while Mom started squealing and jumping up and down right as Mr. Decour returned. She stopped instantly and smoothed out her dress.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Decour was gone with two signed application forms. He left behind a list of things we might want to have with us for the next year. Right after he went, we called Raven to tell her about our decision. She started crying on the phone and we had a hard time getting her to stop.

Right now, Mom was yelling at us for not being dressed appropriately. We just sat there and listened. Neither one of us really cared and we knew that Mom knew we didn't, but still, she tried to get her messages through to us.

The next day, Raven had somehow managed to throw us a We'll Miss You & Have Fun In Washington party at school. When I read the banner that hung over the school entrance, I realized that Raven must have researched where Forks is because I hadn't told her, simply because I'd been carefully avoiding telling Chris that. When she saw the banner, she flipped out. It took about five of our friends to calm her down.

Our party took place during classes, always during the lessons. Actually, we did pretty much the same thing that we'd been doing all week, only we added sodas and snacks, which the guys continuously carried from one class to the next.

I thought that they only used this party to give the teachers one more reason to give up trying to teach us, because almost all of the people were invited to our birthday party, so they would see us again no matter what. We let them have their fun anyway, and after the school day was over, we made a _High School Musical_ worthy exit from the building.

The following summer was more or less uneventful. Chris and I spent a lot of time in driving school to get our licenses just in time for our sweet sixteen, which was one day before we headed off to Forks. Naturally, being the geniuses are, we passed the driving test with flying colors, and Dad promised to buy a car for each of us since he no longer needed our college fund.

We tried to make the most out of the summer, because afterward, we wouldn't be spending all of our time here, which was both exciting and depressing.

Raven had managed to convince her parents to go to Europe without her and to let her stay with us for the summer. It was really cute, so as a thank you, Chris and I made her breakfast every morning.

I also had a minor fling during the summer. It lasted three weeks and his name was Chazz. He'd been in the driving school with us, and both Raven and Chris had been jealous when he'd asked me out. That boosted my ego a little and for once, I'd actually agreed to wear one of Chris' skimpy bathing suits when we went to the beach.

We also went to Disneyland with our parents, and took about a thousand pictures of us with all of the Disney characters.

When half of the summer had passed, we started to get prepared for our journey. Mom dragged us girls from one shop to the next pretty much every day. That was a rather unpleasant experience for me because I'd never been a big fan of shopping, but to make matters worse, I wasn't even allowed to buy the things I wanted because I always chose things I couldn't wear in the cold, rainy state of Washington.

Chris wasn't all that much happier, but she'd somehow managed to purchase everything she wanted, and she got away with it. That was because she was one of those people with the ability to dress in layers and combine things in a way that was suitable for the situation. I was someone who liked pretty and simple things because I liked to dress and undress really quickly. In the end, I got some help from my dearest sister, and even Raven assisted in the choosing of my outfits, but she wasn't much help since she mostly just danced around and told us how lucky she was to be staying in beautiful, sunny Phoenix.

As light as the mood was during the day, as soon as it was dark outside, we became nostalgic and started remembering the "good old days." At one point, I'd even decided that we'd watch an old movie from our childhood every evening, and so we went to the video store everyday to choose a movie. Dad was paying for all of this, saying that since he no longer had to save up for our college funds, it didn't matter.

We watched every movie we'd ever seen together. There were a lot of them. When we realized that we were running out of time and still had too many movies left, we started a weekend movie marathon. After two days of watching TV, we all had terrible headaches and took a day to sleep it off.

After that, we spent the remains of our summer vacation by planning mine and Chris' birthday party. When the last day of vacation rolled around, we celebrated with all of our friends on a luxury steamer, which Dad had generously paid for, stating again that he wouldn't have to pay for college, so it was okay. Chris suspected that he was enjoying this far too much, but I thought that Dad was trying to show his affection by keeping us happy and satisfied. Of course we thanked Daddy no matter what his reasoning was, and I swear I saw a tear rolling down his face when we kissed him and reminded him of how much we loved him.

Raven's tears were most definitely rolling when we saw our friends off after the party. She was the last to go and she embraced the two of us so tightly that we almost turned blue. She threatened us that she'd send our childhood pictures to our school newspaper if we didn't email her at least once a day now that both of us had a new laptop, courtesy of our father. We promised her that we'd both write her an email before going to sleep, and if we had time, we'd even send her one in the morning. She informed us that we were only going to be one hour behind in time, and that she wouldn't take the time difference as an excuse. We agreed with that and when she finally stopped crying, we started to blubber.

At some point, our parents decided to call Raven's parents. They had to separate us by force because we had an early flight the next day and Raven had to go to school. We were starting our sophomore year without Raven. That realization made Chris cry harder than both me and Raven.

In the whole fight of separating us, everybody stopped to look at Chris in surprise. She hardly ever cried, and now she was howling like a coyote. Apparently Chris had done that intentionally, though, because she'd used the moment of confusion to escape Dad's grip and to give Raven one last bear hug.

When Mom and Dad were both busy with wrestling Chris off of Raven, I snuck up from behind and gave her one last hug as well, despite her mother's arms being in the way, trying to pull her in the opposite direction.

After twenty minutes of hardcore wrestling, our parents had finally managed to drag us into the cars and drive us home.

As soon as we were locked in the car, Chris pulled out her phone and called Raven. Both of us continued crying through the phone as Raven burst back into tears on the other end. Our parents, however, were soon annoyed with that and threatened to take the laptops back if we didn't stop. That made all three of us shut up and we quickly scampered to hang up after a quick declaration of our love for one another.

I didn't sleep well that night. I knew Chris didn't sleep any better, and when the next morning rolled around, neither of us were sure if we should feel excited or just plain miserable.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, well, I don't have much to say about this, so I guess I'll just let you guys talk about this chapter. Let me know if you loved it, hated it, or just read it because you were bored and couldn't find a more exciting story. I don't care, just review. Other than that, I have nothing more to say, so I wish you a very good night or morning or afternoon or evening or noon...(you know what I mean -.-)**


	2. Welcome to Forks

**A/N: I had the chapter done already, so I figured I should update it as well...there's not much to say except:**

**WE HAVE A WINNER! sapphyre18 guessed what song I destroyed in last chapters authors note...I'm impressed that you even recognized it, but maybe it wasn't really that hard. Anyway, that's it from me for now, I won't ramble for once, so here's the next chapter.**

**Hope you like it.**

**Bella POV**

"Stop complaining and hurry up," I said to my sister. She was still sitting on the floor of our now somewhat empty bedroom, whining about the fact that we had to go to the academy in Forks. I didn't even understand her problem. She did agree to go because she wanted to, and now she was acting as if our parents, who were somewhere downstairs waiting for us, had forced her to go. "Come on, or we're going to miss our flight," I tried again to encourage her.

"Is that a bad thing?" she sulked.

"Chris," I groaned.

"Okay, okay. It's just weird, you know. We're leaving everything we've ever known behind and we don't even know what to expect when we get to Forks or what expects us."

"Yes, I understand and I feel exactly the same way. But you know, maybe we should be a bit more excited for this trip. We don't know what kind of great people we are going to meet, and maybe if we get lucky, it'll be just as magical as Harry Potter," I smiled encouragingly at her.

She just rolled her eyes. Normally she was the one making the Harry Potter jokes.

The two of us made our way downstairs and smiled at Dad as we said, "We're ready."

Mom was standing outside waiting for us. She'd been crying all week because she couldn't get used to the fact that we were leaving, even though she'd known this day would come since the day she signed the application forms.

"Oh, my little babies, I'm going to miss you so much!" she sobbed. "You have to promise me that you'll fly up here as often as possible, even if it's just for the weekend, or else I'll get lonely. You know that your father isn't around that often—" she stopped only to make a tissue appear out of her pocket and then she carried on her blubbering, even though none of us were listening as we quickly loaded our bags into the trunk and hopped into the car.

The drive to the airport was anything but quiet. Mom was continuously crying as she recited one hundred and one stories about how cute we were when we were little. Chris was complaining about how her tan was going to be ruined when we moved to Forks, and Dad was mumbling to himself something about 'women' and how 'no one understands them'. I simply listened and answered with 'yes' as soon as someone asked me something. It seemed to be right answer to all of their problems.

"Mom, we have to go now," I choked out when Mom wouldn't let me go.

Chris already had her bone-crushing hug from Mom, and Dad seemed to be thinking if he should hug or if a handshake would do best. He'd never really been one to show emotions, but no one was bothered by that because we all knew he loved us deeply.

When I was finally free to breathe again, Chris and I stood in front of our parents. I felt tears rise in my eyes and my sight began to blur slightly, but I refused to cry.

To all of our surprise, we heard a sniff coming from Dad, followed by one from Chris. Neither of them ever really cried, even though we'd already seen a worse outburst from Chris yesterday. But to make things even more surprising, Chris suddenly jumped into Dad's arms.

"I'm going to miss you Daddy!" she shouted before pecking him quickly on the cheek. She kissed Mom quickly too, but she knew better than to hug her again.

I kissed our parents goodbye as well and then I took Chris' hand so we could finally board the plane. I was by far more excited for this trip than Chris was. Her mood drastically improved, though, when we passed a group of guys who wolf whistled and cat called at her. This always happened on a regular basis because Chris was much prettier than me. She said that wasn't true, but I hardly ever listened to her.

"Oh man, the food here is disgusting," Chris complained. I agreed completely. Whatever this was, it certainly was not the pasta the stewardess had tried to pass it off as. "I hope this freak school had better food."

"It's not a freak school, Chris. It's a school made for people like us," I told her. I knew that she wasn't being serious, but sometimes I felt the need to answer her stupid comments anyway.

"Yeah, like I said, freak school," Chris replied nonchalantly.

"We are not freaks," I said as I gave her a meaningful look.

"Yeah, apparently we are because freaky things only happen around freaky people and seriously, the whole elemental mag—"

"Are you crazy?" I cut her off. "You can't talk about that in a plane full of people."

She just huffed and started to talk again. "See, there you have it. If we were normal, I wouldn't have to keep quiet about it."

"When did you decide that we're freaks?" I asked her softly.

"This morning when I realized that we could have stayed home if we were normal." Chris sounded like a small child.

"Do you miss Raven already?"

"Not exactly. It hasn't really been long enough to actually miss her, but I am worried."

"Don't be. She'll do just fine."

"I hope so," said Chris. "But I'm also worried about us. There are going to be hundreds of freaks in this freak school, and we're going to be the only normal freaks." What was it with her and freaks?

"We'll be fine too," I assured her.

"Seriously Bella, sometimes I wish I could be as good-hearted and confident as you."

"You are good-hearted."

"See, that's exactly what I mean. People like you always try to make people like me feel better."

"But you really are a good-hearted person. You always make me feel better when I'm sad, and you always try to boost my self-confidence. You always beat up people who bully me around. I love you, my silly twin," I said sincerely as I awkwardly hugged Chris from the side.

"I love you too, my nerdy twin. You're the only person that I would do everything and anything for. I hope you know that."

I nodded silently and tightened my grip on her.

"That is...so cute."

I looked up to see the stewardess from earlier wiping tears off of her pretty face.

"May I help you?" Chris asked roughly as she let me go.

The stewardess shook her head and kept sniffling.

"You shouldn't be that rude to people," I heard another unfamiliar voice as soon as the stewardess was out of sight.

I looked at the seat in front of us where a handsome blond man sat, facing us to scold Chris for her rudeness.

"I'm not being rude, I'm just honest," Chris smiled sweetly.

"That is also considered as rude," the man continued.

"Maybe so, but I'm not in the mood for playing nice," Chris shrugged.

The man shook his head. "You have to be a truly amazing person if you're able to bring a soft side out of this, girls," he then said to me. His brilliant blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me.

"I think she's just in a bit of a bad mood because we're going somewhere she thinks she'll hate," I defended my sister.

"And where is that?"

"Washington."

The man laughed. "I think I could have figured that out considering we're all on the same flight which lands in Port Angeles."

I blushed slightly at my own stupidity. "Yeah, I guess you would have. What I meant to say is that neither of us are very thrilled about flying to Washington because of the weather."

"It actually snows in the winter," Chris chimed in.

"Yes, that happens to be a rather normal phenomenon," the man replied.

"I've never see snow. Is it nice?" I asked excitedly. In movies, they always made such a big deal out of snow so now I couldn't wait to see it. Dad said it was nothing special, but I wanted to see it on my own.

The man merely shrugged and I started feeling a bit weird talking to a stranger about the weather.

"Are you vacationing in Port Angeles?" Chris asked, not sounding all that interested.

"No, I live in that area."

"Really? Have you ever heard of a town called Forks?" I asked hopefully.

The stranger laughed again. His laugh was warm and friendly. "Sure, I have, I live there."

"Coolness. Do you know anything about their freak school?"

I smacked my forehead at Chris' stupid question.

"Are you talking about the academy?" The stranger was curiously looking at us as he smiled excitedly.

"Yes, have you ever been there?"

"I teach there. I'm Carlisle Cullen." He held out his hand and Chris and I clasped it in between our hands to shake it at the same time. We did that often. Carlisle looked at us with amusement dancing in his eyes.

"We're—" I started, but was cut off by Carlisle.

"Isabella and Christabel Swan, of course."

"How do you know that?" The wary expression on Chris' face was going to be permanent if she didn't change her attitude.

"I'm actually the headmaster of the high school," Carlisle smiled warmly.

"Do you know all the names of your new students?" I wondered. He must be very dedicated to his job if that was the case.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We will soon be arriving in Port Angeles, so please fasten your seatbelts. I hope you've enjoyed travelling with us and that you will once again honor us with your presence." The voice from the speaker sounded like he was reading a manuscript, not even caring if anyone really enjoyed the flight.

"I guess we'll have to continue our conversation later on," Carlisle said and turned around to put his seatbelt on.

"Did you notice that he's already the second incredibly good-looking teacher?" Chris whispered to me. "If all the teachers are so hot, I am never going to be late for class again."

"Of course you would because then you'd need even more time to get ready," I murmured back, but she was right. Carlisle and Mr. Decour were both extremely handsome.

"Bella, let's get something to eat," Chris whined.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. We were actually supposed to be looking for someone holding a sign with 'Forks Academy' written on it. Carlisle had disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and so he couldn't help us. When I didn't see anyone, I gave in to her whining and finally we went to get something to eat.

"Chris, why are you wearing sunglasses?" I asked her after I saw through a window in the cafe that it was raining outside. We were back in the giant main hall of the Port Angeles airport.

Chris heaved a dramatic sigh. "I'm trying to pretend that we're still in Phoenix and that I don't have to put on a raincoat soon." But she was rummaging through her back for a raincoat anyway.

I chuckled at her silliness and kept scouring for someone with the sign.

"Maybe we should go get our luggage," Chris suggested after she'd managed to pull out her raincoat.

"No, the letter said that they will take care of our luggage as long as we have written our names properly on it. Maybe they're taking so long because of all your suitcases." Chris had somehow filled stuffed six suitcases full of her items while I only had three.

"What letter? The letter said no such thing."

I sighed. _Note to self: ask mom if Chris is truly my sister, and if she is, ask if she's really my twin._ Perhaps they accidentally switched kids on the playground or something.

"I'm talking about the other letter. The one that came two weeks before the flight. You know, the one with the tickets in it."

"Oh yeah, I remember. I didn't read it, did I?"

"Apparently not. Maybe you should start informing—"

"Ooh Bella, look there's the person with the stupid sign you've been looking for. And damn does he look good." Chris was suddenly ecstatic, but I figured it was because of the guy, who indeed was rather good looking. What was it with the handsome guys these days?

There was already a small group formed around the guy, and while he was holding the sign, another guy held the checklist and continued to check off the names. The latter was good looking as well, but he was huge like a grizzly bear. But seeing as nobody seemed scared of him, and that they were actually laughing with him, made him a lot less intimidating.

"Come on, let's go," Chris whined and dragged me toward the group. She stopped right in front of the guy with the sign.

He was tall and nicely muscled, although nothing compared to the other guy. Both of them had dark brown hair, only the grizzly bear had cute curls on his head and the other one had straight hair with just a slight bit of wave around his face. He looked a bit like this Sam guy from _Supernatural_, some strange TV show that Chris forced me to watch with her.

"Hey," Chris said in her seductive voice, smiling sexily as she flipped her hair. She knew that she was overdoing it, but it always got the guys attention.

"Hey," was the answer she got. He sounded like he was wondering if she was out of her mind.

Chris turned to me for a second but I couldn't make out her expression because she was still wearing her sunglasses. Maybe that was why the guy was so confused.

"What's your name?" she tried a bit harder to be seductive and I heard the people around us start to giggle.

"What do you want, little girl?" he asked, sounding bored. Now the giggles got louder.

Little girl? Chris didn't look at all like a little girl. Almost every girl back home envied both of us for our curves, but right now, she did look a little younger than usual. Her backpack hung down low on her back, and it was pink with flowers on it which was weird for her, and she was holding her raincoat in front of her body in a way that made her look sweet and innocent. If this guy could see what she was actually wearing, he wouldn't have said that. Once again, she was wearing a red crop top. She didn't listen to me when I told her that she should dress more appropriately and so she simply put on what she liked best. Her favorite crop top and her baggy jeans. In some ways, she looked like Rihanna in the music video for _Pon de Replay_, and since that was one of her favorite songs to dance to, I figured she did it on person.

"Did you just call me a little girl?" Chris asked, stomping her food on the ground. That just made the guy smile.

"Yes, I did. Now go away, I have more important things to do."

"Chris, don't—" I started to say but stopped immediately when I felt a jolt of anger pulse through me. It was very disorienting and I knew that this was the weird phenomenon that Chris had talked about a few weeks ago.

"Oh yeah, like what? Holding up this sign?" Chris asked, pointing at it. Normally she didn't care if she got rejected, but I guessed that the 'little girl' comment set her off. Talking about setting off, the sign the guy held started burning as soon as Chris pointed at it.

Both Chris and I jumped back instantly and started squealing like crazy.

"Shit." The sign guy dropped the sign and started stomping on it to kill the flame. When he managed to put the fire out, he turned to stare at where we were actually still squealing, but his glare silenced us both. "Are you crazy? Don't you kids have any respect these days? I'll report you for almost setting me on fire, and in public no less. My father will not be pleased about this." His glare was so harsh, I could've sworn he could've killed Chris with it.

"I didn't set you on fire. Did you see me use a lighter? And even if I would have done that — which I didn't — don't you think it sounds a bit ridiculous when a big boy like you threatens to report me to his dad?" Chris'v oice sounded a bit off, even though she was using her annoying mocking tone.

The guy was about to reply something when the other one came up to him and held the list out for him. "Dude, everyone except the Swans are here already."

"Why aren't they here? Their flight arrived earlier than everyone else's and we've already got their luggage," he sighed. He was probably remembering all of the suitcases that belonged to Chris.

"Maybe they got lost or something. I mean, they are the only ones who've never been here before."

"Yeah yeah, but how hard could it be to read one simple sign? Not only are they behind in everything that concerns our world, but they also seem to be stupid."

I knew I should have interrupted and told them who we were, but I was momentarily stunned by the fact that we were apparently the only newcomers. That would certainly explain why Carlisle Cullen had known our names so easily.

I already knew that normally most students had gone to the school since elementary, but I didn't think that we were the only ones who were starting in senior high. Suddenly, I wasn't so excited anymore, I just felt sick.

Chris didn't say anything either, but judging by the vibes I was getting from her, it was more because he called us stupid. The two boys were discussing whether or not they should start looking for us, but then their eyes fell on us.

"What are you still doing here? Maybe I didn't make myself clear earlier. What I actually wanted to say is: I don't do little girls. So take your friend and go wait with the others," the sign guy sneered while pointing at the group of kids behind him.

Chris huffed and turned elegantly, and before I could warn her, she bumped into someone who stood behind her. He caught and steadied her and I couldn't help but giggle at this. It was the kind of situation I would usually be in. I then looked at the guy whom she'd bumped into and recognized Carlisle Cullen.

"Well hello again. I thought you were already on your way," he said as he let Chris go and smiled at the two of us.

"Yeah, well Chris here is having some trouble," I answered, letting out a small laugh.

Carlisle's eyes settled on the sign guy and judging by his slightly frustrated expression, he'd heard what he had said to Chris.

"Carlisle, we have a problem," the other guy barked and waved the list in Carlisle's face. "The Swans are still missing."

Carlisle just looked at the two of us then at the two boys before he started laughing hysterically. All of us watched him, mesmerized. At first, I was confused as to why he was laughing, but then I thought about the situation and realized it was indeed rather funny. I started giggling too, since it was really stupid that we were standing right in front of them and they were still looking for us. Chris just shook her head, but I heard her chuckle a little.

"Carlisle. The joke?" sign guy asked, sounding annoyed.

"The Swans...missing...oh God...can't breathe...didn't even...say a word...and...mean..." Carlisle was clearly in hysterics by now.

"You know, it's really not that funny. Well, it is in a way, but breathing or rather not breathing like that is really unhealthy. You might pass out, and so far, you are the only nice person from the academy that we've met. I mean, Mr. Decour is okay, I gues—"

"Bella, you're rambling," Chris cut me off.

"No, I wasn't, I had a point," I defended myself.

"Yes, but you already made your point, then you just kept talking and talking. That's what you call rambling."

"Whatever. This isn't even a breath worthy conversation."

Chris nodded in agreement and put her arm around my waist. Meanwhile, Carlisle had managed to calm himself down and judging from all the confused faces around us, this didn't happen often.

"Thank you, Isabella, for those strange yet kind words," he was still chuckling.

The big grizzly bear guy seemed to finally get what was going on and he let out a booming laugh before looking at Carlisle in confusion. "When did you guys meet? And why are you here, anyway?"

"I was visiting an old friend of mine, who happens to live in Phoenix just like the girls, so we met on the plane," Carlisle smiled fondly as he spoke of his friend. "So I guess you don't have to search for them anymore."

"Aren't they supposed to be twins? They don't look anything alike. Well, at least not from what I can see," the annoying sign guy said as he studied us with a wary expression, frowning at bit at the fact that Chris was still wearing her sunglasses.

"Aren't you supposed to be holding a sign?" Chris snapped back at him.

"I would be if you hadn't set it on fire," he barked back, taking a step toward Chris.

"I didn't set it on fire." Chris let go of me and went closer to the guy, too.

"Of course you did, and all because you couldn't handle my rejection. You're not the first little girl to get upset over that." Sign guy was no leaning down so he was eye level with Chris, only he couldn't look into her eyes because of her glasses.

"And you're not the first guy who's made the mistake of making me upset."

"So you admit that you couldn't handle the rejection?

"No, I admit that the look on your face is making me furious."

"Funny," the guy said. "A few moments ago you were hitting on me."

"So what? A few years ago I tripped over a stone. Who cares about the past? Right now, I find your face infuriating."

"I would say the same thing to you, but you're hiding behind sunglasses. You do realize that you're not in Phoenix anymore, don't you?"

"Obviously. There's no assholes like you in Phoenix."

"So why are you hiding behind glasses? Are you ashamed of your face?"

"Maybe I don't want my eyes to burn when I look at you."

"Well then, burn." And with that, he pulled the glasses off her face.

Chris instinctively reached for them when he held them up, causing her to drop her coat.

This time, I burst into laughter because of the way the sign guys jaw dropped. Chris turned to look at me in question, but I just shook my head and wiped my eyes. This was just like a bad sitcom and I wasn't even a main character, which was sad considering the fact that this was my life. Chris finally noticed the ogling of the sign guy and smiled triumphantly before picking up her coat and putting it on.

Carlisle cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention to him. "Dylan, I do not appreciate you being rude to our new students. I suppose I'll have to send Edward or Alice as a mentor for them. Chris, I understand that you may have just defended yourself, even though I have a feel you started it since you set the sign on fire. However, if there is anymore fighting between the two of you while I'm around, you will each receive detention."

Ha! School hadn't even started yet, and Chris was already in trouble.

"But I didn't set the thing on fire! How could I have done that?" Chris mumbled.

Carlisle looked at her in surprise and wonder and that strangely excited expression crossed his face again.

"You know, to prevent anymore fights between Dylan and Chris, you two could drive to the academy with me. I normally don't offer this to any students, but I think I'll make an exception for the two of you," Carlisle suggest, looking at me. Something in his expression told me that he thought I was the more grown up one. Right now, that was entirely true.

Since the day we heard about the academy in Forks, Chris had been annoying and uncontrollable, but I wasn't always the grown up one. I was just more responsible and sensible. Nor did I have such a hot temper. Okay, maybe I was the grown up out of us.

I quickly nodded at Carlisle's offer and watched as Chris did her happy dance, which only caused Dylan and several other guys to ogle her even more.

Five minutes later, we were seated in Carlisle's sleek black Mercedes. I sat in the front and Chris was busily texting on her Sidekick in the back.

"So Carlisle, what exactly do you do at the academy?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her phone.

I rolled my eyes at her boldness but Carlisle smiled kindly.

"I'm the headmaster of the senior high school and officially, you are supposed to call me Mr. Cullen, but some of my students call me Carlisle when we meet in outside of school."

"Like this Dylan guy," Chris noted.

"Yes, but he's actually my adoptive son and sometimes forgets that I'm his teacher as well."

"No offense, but you didn't do a very good job in teaching him manners."

"Chris!" I scolded but Carlisle simply laughed.

"Yes, sometimes I think that too, but my other kids have turned out just fine, so perhaps it's not my parenting skills."

"You have more kids?" I asked. If they looked as good as he did, I definitely wanted to marry one of them.

"Yes, I have another son, Edward. He's two years older than you and already in is senior year, and my daughter, Alice, is about your age."

"What year is Dylan in?" Chris asked. I started to wonder why she was so interested in this Dylan guy.

"He's in his first year of college."

"Hmm," Chris hummed in response before she went back to texting.

I suddenly remembered something. "Is it true that we're the only new students?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, that's correct."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, you are the only regular borns."

"The only what?" Chris piped.

"Mr. Decour said something like that too," I recalled.

"When?" Chris asked exasperatedly.

"When you were being difficult," I answered, giving her a pointed look.

"I take it Mr. Decour hasn't told you everything about us?" Carlisle interrupted.

"Apparently not."

"Okay, then I suppose I will have to do it." He took a deep breath, but never released the road from his eyes. "Usually our witch students sta—"

"Whoa, hold up! Witches?" Chris barged in. "You are not seriously trying to tell me that this is some sort of school for witches, are you?"

"Of course it is. What else would it be?" Carlisle looked at us with an amused expression.

"Maybe a school for special gifted students?" I offered and Carlisle's smile widened.

"Yes, that's what you can call it, but we refer to ourselves as witches. It may be a bit old-fashioned, but that's what we've been known as since the ancient world."

"So do we need wands or something like that?" I questioned.

"No, not always. Wands are only used for some spells."

"Where do we get wands?" Chris' voice was more excited than usual.

"On campus. You'll see once you need one."

"Do we need spellbooks or something?"

"You'll see," was Carlisle's slightly cryptic answer.

"So we're going to learn how to use magic spells?" I asked carefully.

"Yes and no. It's not as simple as that. You learn how to use magic spells and such, but you also learn how to use and expand your own abilities to their fullest potential."

"What does that mean?" Chris' voice chimed with mine, mixing in perfect synchronization.

"Well, every witch has his or her own power. It's something they are born with and they don't need spells to use. It's a part of who they are."

"So we're some kind of X-Men meets Harry Potter mixture?" Chris asked. She seemed to find this much more interesting than she had a few weeks, or even hours, ago.

"Yes. In a way, I suppose you could view it like that and still find truth in it," Carlisle chuckled.

"And what kind of ability do we have?" I really wanted to know more about this.

"That is something we don't really know. Usually our students discover their powers in elementary school. That's when they appear for the first time, but they hardly ever have control over it. Mostly it just spikes up for a short period of time before vanishing again until they hit puberty. That is when the powers are actually present and that's when we start to train them. Junior high is all about controlling it and not letting your emotions control it or you. Most students are able to channel their powers in the way they wish to, but they don't know the limits of it yet. That's what we learn in senior high. We let them work actively with their powers for the first time. A lot of students are already able to do it, but it has never been done in class, so there could be more for them to learn."

"So not only are we going to be the new students, but we're also going to be the only ones who don't know what they're doing?" I was starting to panic. There was also a very large chance that we would mess up and be at the bottom of the class. And I'd never even been anywhere near the middle.

"Yes, you are, but don't worry about it, you'll be fine. Just think of something to help you when you feel like you need it," Carlisle said reassuringly as Chris patted my shoulder in a soothing manner, even though she wasn't feeling much more confident than me.

"Well, if it helps, we've already got a slight idea of what your powers are. Chris seems to be able to manipulate fire, and you, Bella, have used telekinesis before. However, we're unsure if that is your real ability or if it's just excess magic that has somehow made it's way out."

I thought about what Carlisle said. Telekinesis would be a really cool ability, and it might not be so difficult to learn to manage, but I didn't know if fire was the right thing for Chris. She would set the school on fire.

"You still haven't told us why we're the only new students," Chris noted quietly. Her earlier excitement had passed and now she seemed to be exhausted.

"You are the only ones with non-magical roots. It happens sometimes, but it hasn't occurred in years."

"What does that mean?" This did not sound good.

"Magic is normally passed on through bloodlines, even abilities can be inherited, but sometimes witches are born into non-magical families. Nobody knows why this happens, but it does. Many of the teachers are already very excited to see what you two are able to do because this is a true rarity. I am one of those teachers who would love to see you put to the test in class, and fortunately for me, I am one of those who are lucky enough to teach you," Carlisle smiled contently.

"So that means that every other student has been in the academy since elementary school? We're the only ones who don't know a single thing about anything," Chris stated calmly, but I knew that panic was rising in her.

_Welcome to the club._

Carlisle nodded and the two of us groaned in unison. We should have declined when we had the chance to.

"There's nothing for you to worry about, you'll both be fine. I will make sure that Alice keeps you company and she'll explain everything you need to know."

"Is there anything we need to know now? Do we need dorm passwords or something?" Chris tried to joke, but she still sounded exhausted.

"Oh right, the dorms. You two still need to be ranked."

"Ranked? What do you mean?"

"We rank our students by color to classify abilities a bit. There are currently four different ranks: red, green, blue, and black. You get a scarf with the color of your rank. How you wear it doesn't matter, but it's suggested that you wear it with your uniform."

"What do the ranks mean?"

"Red and green are the normal ranks. A lot of students are in one of the two. It's not bad, it's just the average mark. Blue is for the ones with more powerful abilities who are also good students. It's also fairly common to wear blue. Black is the top rank. Quite a few students wear black, but it's the minority. Black is for those who have powerful gifts or work very good with them. The ranks don't only grade the powers, but also your school work. The teachers can also degrade you for bad behaviour or upgrade you when they feel like you have reached a high enough mark in their opinion. All other students already have their ranks, and so they also already have their dorms. The ranks aren't only for show, though. There are special privileges that come with the higher ranks. The dorms are sorted by ranks, as well. The students in the Red house have to share their rooms with another student and they get less pocket money than the others. In the Green house, everyone has separated rooms and gets more money. The Blues have bigger rooms than the Greens and double beds, as well as more money. The Black scarfs have the biggest rooms and everyone has his or her own bathroom. They also—"

"Get more money, I got it. How much do we get anyway?"

"Reds get eighty, and from there, it's always goes ten dollars up."

"What rank are we?"

"You'll be Red for now, but if you work hard, you can make it to the top."

"I don't want to work hard to make it to the top. I'm always the best," I started to whine.

Carlisle threw me a surprised glance. Yes, I also had an immature side.

"Oh, don't be upset, Bella. You know we've been at the top since kindergarten. We're going to be back up there in no time, you'll see," Chris encouraged me.

"What if we're not?"

"If we don't make it, then we'll be bad on purpose so they'll throw us out and then we can go to school with Raven. Deal?"

I nodded, still sniffling a little.

"The two of you are highly interesting to watch," Carlisle commented and shook his head slightly.

I wanted to answer, but something from the corner of my eye caught my attention and my breathing sped up as I panicked a little.

"What's wrong?" both Carlisle and Chris asked worriedly.

"We just passed a 'Welcome to Forks' sign," I answered as my stomach started churning.

"Oh shit," I heard Chris mumble as she took in our surroundings. We were indeed in a one-horse town and there was green _everywhere_. The gray sky was giving the whole place a dull note, too.

"Yes, it's a small town, but if it helps, the campus is bigger than the rest of the town and there are more people," Carlisle said, laughing.

The car came to a halt in front of a beautiful large gate. 'Forks Academy' was written in beautiful elegant script above the gate. From what we could see through the wrought iron gate, the campus seemed to be a little town of it's own. Carlisle spoke to the guard while both Chris and I looked around at everything in awe. In front of us was a long street and at the end of it was a huge, gorgeous building that looked a little like a castle. On the sides of the road were a few shops and coffee bars. Several more streets branched off from the long one and everywhere were people walking around, making it look even more like a town.

Finally the gate opened and we drove in through it. People quickly jumped off the street when they saw the car and all of them watched as if they had never seen a car before.

"Usually there are no cars allowed on campus, except for the school buses, so every time there's a car driving in here, the students know that there is something special going on. Right now, it's your arrival," Carlisle explained quickly.

After two minutes, the building that I'd seen at the end of the road came into view. It was indeed some kind of castle with two towers and pointy rooftops.

"This is the high school," Carlisle informed us as he stopped in front of it. "On the right is the elementary school and on the left is the college building. We call this the academic road and as you can see, there isn't a single student here. Classes will begin in two days and until then, no one even goes near the school."

"Screw Harry Potter, this place rocks," Chris muttered and all I could do was nod in agreement.

Carlisle chuckled at us and turned the car around. "I'm glad you like the school buildings. I suppose I should show you the dormitory now."

"Are those castles too?" I asked.

Carlisle shook his head before turning onto one of the branching streets, which was through the middle of a park. The street ended in a huge court. Four houses were around it and there was a fountain in the middle. To our left were to very large row houses. They actually looked pretty and one of them had a terrace. To our right was a huge mansion-like house. It has large windows and had to be at least four times bigger than our house in Phoenix.

Right across from us was a house, it wasn't mansion-like, it _was_ a mansion. The biggest one I'd ever seen. It looked like a miniature version of the white house, only a lot taller. It looked like it had four or five stories. Through the big French windows, I could see a dining area on one side. It actually looked a lot like a restaurant. On the other side of the entrance, you could see something that looked like a rec room, which it probably was because there were a bunch of kids playing pool inside.

"On the left are the Red and Green houses, and on the right is the Blue house. In front of us, of course, is the Black house," Carlisle explained, parking in front of the Red house. He quickly got out to open the door for me and Chris, then started to walk toward the Black house but stopped once he realized that we weren't following him.

We were standing there, looking at him in confusion.

"I want to introduce you two to my daughter, Alice. We still have to wait for Dylan and Emmett because they have the room arrangements," he said when he understood what we were so confused about. "If we're lucky, she'll be in her room."

"Carlisle?" Chris asked shyly.

"Hmm?"

"Can we please go back home?"

"Why? I thought you liked it here." Confusion was written boldly across his face.

I knew why Chris felt so uncomfortable, though, because for once, we felt the same thing for the same reason.

"I don't like it when people stare at me," we both said. Everyone that was outside in the plaza was looking at us and beginning to whisper while pointing their fingers at us.

"Don't worry, it'll stop. Eventually," Carlisle said, smiling brightly at us.

I had a hard time believing that, but I didn't say anything because we'd entered the Black house. It was a bit ironic to call it the 'Black house' because the exterior was completely white, and the great entry hall was as well. The tiles were white and the walls were white, but the carpet was plush and a nice cream color.

I looked up and saw that this massive building indeed had five stories. It looked like a luxury mall in here. I could see a few people leaning over the parapet which made me quickly look back down.

Carlisle was already climbing up the stair and Chris hastily grabbed my hand to drag me up as well. At the end of the staircase was something that looked like a waiting room in the corridor. There were four benches along with a few plants. Then I realized why there was a waiting room. It was because there were two elevators and of course, it would be too hard to stand while waiting for one of them.

I turned to look at the rest of the corridor. It was square-shaped, exactly like in a mall, only it was much warmer looking inside. The walls were cream-colored and the carpet was a lovely chocolate brown. There were a few people leaning against the parapet, talking to each other, while others vanished inside their rooms. There were three rooms on each side, except for where we stood. The corridor where we were standing was a bit longer than it had looked when we were downstairs, so it wasn't exactly square because I could see three more rooms hidden in the corners, in a somewhat triangular shape. All in all, there had to be about fifteen rooms on just this floor. If all the floors were equal, then there would be seventy-five bedrooms in the house.

"How many rooms are in this house?" I asked.

"One hundred and five. The corridor across from us is the same length as this one, so there are six more rooms there. It's not much if you consider that the other houses have a few hundred rooms each."

"So it's really hard to become a Black scarf then?" We stepped into the elevator and Carlisle pressed the number 3.

"Yes, that's true. All of the students that live here have very unique abilities."

"What kind of abilities?"

"Well, Alice for instance can see the future. My son, Edward, is a mind reader and he's quite fast. Dylan is a mind manipulator and he has the ability to beam from one place to another."

"So all of your kids are Black scarfs?"

"Yes."

"But I don't like Dylan." Chris whined and I rolled my eyes.

The elevator came to a stop and Carlisle led us to one of the rooms. Apparently Alice's room was one of those hidden ones on the side. When we walked passed the others rooms, I quickly looked down. The height was nauseating.

Alice's room was in the middle of two others. Carlisle knocked lightly on the door and two seconds later the door was being opened by a beautiful short pixie-like girl with short spiky black hair.

"Oh, hey Daddy, I missed you," she jumped into Carlisle's arms before he could say anything.

"I missed you too, sweetie. Hello Jasper," he called over Alice's shoulder. Alice looked over his shoulder at the same moment and spotted us.

"Daddy, are those—"

"Yes, these are the Swan twins. I thought you might want to meet them." He didn't even let her finish her question.

Alice jumped out of his arms and started bouncing up and down in front of us. "Heya, I'm Alice." She shook our hands and closed her eyes for a second.

"Hi, I'm—"

"Bella and this is your sister Chris," Alice finished for me. "I know, I'm psychic."

"Alice, I thought you might want to keep the twins company while they wait for Dylan and Emmett," Carlisle piped in.

"Sure, just let me get dressed real quick."

"Okay, then I guess you'll be alright," Carlisle said to us, smiling. "I hope Alice makes you feel welcome. We'll see each other on Wednesday in class." And with that, he took his leave.

"Come on in, I won't bite," Alice waved us into her room.

I was momentarily stunned when I entered. The room was huge. In front of us was a cute sitting area with a TV. The whole wall to our left was a mirror wardrobe and on the opposite wall, was a big dresser with hundreds of cosmetics on top of it. On a raised level on the other side of the room, there was a huge bed with beautiful pink see-through canopy style curtains. On one of the couches in the room sat a handsome blond boy. I guessed that he was Jasper.

"Sit down," Alice gestured to the couches. She sat down beside the guy and Chris and I sat on the couch beside them.

"This is my boyfriend, Jasper. Jasper, this is Bella," she pointed at me, "and this is Chris."

"Nice to meet you," Jasper said in a southern accent as he eyed us curiously.

"Nice to meet you too," Chris and I said together.

"So, tell us something about yourselves," Alice beamed.

"I thought you wanted to get dressed," Chris noted dryly.

"Oh, I only need five minutes for that, and the bus won't be here for another fifteen, so we have enough time to get to know each other." I kind of got the impression that this Alice girl was a little overly hyper and motivated.

"There's not much to tell," I said lamely. "We're from Phoenix and now we're here."

Alice and Jasper chuckled at that.

"What abilities do you have? It's so exciting to get to know new people, let alone regular borns like you," Alice pressed. I started to wonder why they all found this so exciting. I felt like some kind of science experiment.

"Alice, you're making Bella a little uncomfortable," Jasper noted. How did he know that? "I'm an empath," he added, obviously thinking that it'd be a good enough explanation.

"What's an empath?" Chris asked, looking between me and Jasper, not liking that she must've missed something.

"I feel other people's emotions and I'm able to influence them," Jasper explained carefully.

"Are you a Black scarf too?" I asked inquisitively.

He nodded.

"So, what are your abilities?" Alice barged in, clearly not wanting to be ignored.

I just shrugged and Chris looked at Jasper with an intense expression on her face.

"What?" he asked self-consciously.

"How do this empath thing work? Do you just feel what people around you feel or do you do it on purpose?"

"I just feel things. Why?"

"No reason," Chris answered a little too quickly with an expression that was just too innocent.

"You're lying," Jasper declared.

"I know." That made Jasper laugh.

"So you honestly don't know what gifts you have?" Alice asked in disbelief.

"Nope."

"Then how did you even get into this school?"

"Carlisle thinks they have a vague idea of what we can do. They think I have telekinesis and Chris can manipulate fire, but they're not too sure about it," I answered thoughtfully.

"Oh, I hope they're wrong. Telekinesis isn't so special and you wouldn't get a Black scarf for it. As for the fire manipulation, it's also not that powerful, but it _could_ get you in here," Alice mused.

Chris smiled mysteriously. "I think we'll get into the Black house. After all, no one really knows what we can actually do." The expression on her face showed that she was up to no good.

"Chris, what are you thinking?"

"Nothing," she brushed me off. "How are they going to find out what powers we have?"

"We had to take Specialization classes in junior high. It's really boring. They make you concentrate on stuff for hours and if nothing happens, they try making you angry," Alice shuddered at the memory. "You still haven't told us anything about yourselves. Do you like shopping?" Her eyes glinted dangerously when she asked us.

Jasper rolled his eyes at her question.

Chris yawned. "You're the psychic, you tell us."

Alice made a face and concentrated for a second before glaring at me. "How can you not like shopping? It's a basic need, and you don't even like it. I will _make_ you love it." The look in her eyes worsened and I flinched away from her.

"Alice, calm down," Jasper murmured soothingly. "Maybe it's just because she's never been shopping with you."

I highly doubted that, but that look I received from Jasper told me not to voice my thoughts.

"We have to go shopping sometime, but right now, we should go down to get your room keys." Alice was sweet and calm again. Well, probably as close to calm as she could get.

I had a feeling that I was going to have a lot more trouble with Alice than Chris would.

_Why me?_


	3. Pixies and Cullen Worshippers

**_A/N:_Hey ho dear readers, I finished chapter three as you can see and uploaded it as fast as I could. This and the next chapter is written in Chris PoV. Then I'll switch back to Bella's view. I just figured you might want to know how Chris' mind works...**

**Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now. Oh no, I remember...I changed the rating, because I honestly don't know how to rate it, I just wanted to be sure.**

**So now you can enjoy the chapter**

_Chris' PoV_

While we stood outside- waiting- I noticed once more that the stupid kids around us had again nothing better to do that pointing fingers at us.

I hated this kind of attention- it was one of the few things I had in common with Bella although she hated attention of any kind.

"I think we should show you around campus and introduce you to a few people. This whole finger pointing is just ridiculous. Don't they have own lives to worry about?" Alice huffed when she noticed the amount of attention we were getting.

"Alice, I thought that you said that they'd be here any second," Bella started to whine.

Alice frowned slightly while she stood on her toes, trying to see in the distance.

"They should have been. Maybe something came up."

"What? I thought you were a psychic?" I screeched not caring about the audience

"Yes, but the future changes once someone changes his mind which doesn't matter in this case anymore because the bus is right there anyway," Alice answered, pointing at the big bus that came to halt in front of us.

Dylan and Emmett jumped out of it and ushered everyone else out. Alice grabbed Bella's arm, who grabbed mine and dragged us to her brother.

"Hey, Dylan. We need your knowledge real quick," Alice tapped his shoulder.

"What do you want?" he asked without looking at her.

"We need to know in what room Bella and Chris are."

That got his attention and he turned.

"So we meet again," he said smirking evilly at me. I just rolled my eyes and huffed.

"Oh, have you met before?" Alice asked curiously, while Jasper started laughing. He was obviously feeling the annoyance that I felt toward Dylan.

"Yes, we met a the airport. If it weren't for Dad they would have been in this bus," he answered and gave me a funny look.

"You know, now that you mention it, it is rather strange that Dad drove you to school. Why did he do that?"

"He thought it would be better to avoid any more fighting between these two," Bella replied, pointing at me and Dylan.

"Why the two of you fight?" Alice asked in wonder.

"Christabel couldn't handle the rejection and set met on fire," Dylan simply stated in response, which didn't set well with me. It only made my temper flare up again.

"First of all, I wasn't upset over the rejection and secondly, I did not set you on fire. Plus, it was the sign burning not you."

Jasper seemed to find this to be very amusing because he was laughing harder while Alice was curiously looking from one to the other. Bella on the other hand seemed very disinterested and looked around to find something more interesting.

"Why can't you just admit that you didn't like being rejected?" Dylan teased me

"Because that's not why I got angry. It was you calling me a little girl."

"But that's what you are."

"If that's really what you think, then why did you ogle me?"I asked arrogantly. Dylan seemed to be at loss of words for a few seconds, but he recovered fast.

"I didn't ogle you, I was aghast at this sight," he shot back, gesturing toward my body.

"So the drool was your way to express your shock?"

"I didn't drool."

"Should I take the coat off, so that we can see your reaction again?"

"Do I look like a pedophile?"

"No, you look like a pervert."

"Oh please both of us know, that you think that I'm good looking."

"I also think that you should shut up."

"So you admit that you think that I'm hot?"

"Sure as soon as you admit that you were ogling me."

"Never."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Great," Bella piped in."Now that's settled, what's with our suitcases? And we still don't know what room we are in."

Dylan turned to her and his expression changed to something much more pleasant. Apparently he was only an asshole to me. "You'll be on the fourth floor together with most of your classmates and your room is no. 403."

He waved for Emmett to come forward. "Isabella wants her key," he informed him.

"Right away," Emmett answered and started to search in the bag that was hanging from his shoulder.

"Hey Emmett," Alice greeted the big guy in front of us.

"Yo, shorty. What are you doing here?" he smiled broadly at Alice. He seemed to be a nice guy.

"Dad asked me to take care of the two treasures and you?"

_Treasures? There's gotta be something better to refer to Bella and myself._

"Esme made me choose between showing the first graders around or picking up those, who arrived today." Emmett grimaced at the mention of first graders.

_Yes, those can be horrible little monsters._

"What's up with Jazz?" Emmett then asked nodding toward Jasper. All of us turned to look at him. He was still laughing more or less silently.

"Gotta love 'em," Jasper choked out and gesturing toward Dylan and me.

"Did they go at it again?" Emmett asked grinning.

Jasper nodded.

"It's great, isn't it?"

Jasper nodded again. I just raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't bother to comment it. Bella gave me a thankful glance. She didn't always appreciate my remarks.

"Emmett, could we get the key now?" Alice was getting impatient.

"Oh right, here you go Isabella," he handed Bella the key.

"Actually, it's Bella," Bella corrected him.

"Okay, Bella it is. Sounds much cooler anyway," Emmett said and patted her back a bit too hard with his giant hands.

"Right Em. I hope we'll see you later, but right now we have other stuff to do," Alice said, dragging me and Bella along with Jasper trailing behind.

"Err...Alice, where are we going?" I asked carefully.

"I'm going to show you around."

"Shouldn't we get our luggage into our room?"Bella piped in.

"Not necessary. The staff will take care of that."

"Wow. I'm starting to like this place."

I grinned at Bella. She only frowned slightly at me.

The following two hours were the most exhausting hours in my life. Alice dragged us from one shop to the next showing us everything and didn't let us look at things long enough. She was only interested in showing us what she liked. Jasper tried to calm her a bit, but when he even made step toward her she warned him to stay away or she wouldn't talk to him for a week. She showed us every Coffee Bar that she liked and introduced us to people that apparently were going in the same class as we did.

I only remembered a friendly looking girl named Angela. She was the only one, who didn't treat us as if we were some kind of freaks. So much to being the only normal freaks. In freak town, normal was freaky.

I started to worry about Bella. She was not looking as if she was comfortable. She only seemed to be genuinely smiling, when we were alone with Alice and Jasper. If these people wouldn't stop the staring soon, I would have to beat up the whole school. Alice also showed us some of her favorite places to hang out. One I liked in particular. It was a flower meadow near a beautiful little pond.

Well, after two hours of hardcore touring, Alice saw us off in front of our building, promising- more like threatening- us to hang out with us again tomorrow. Jasper smiled sympathetically at us.

Right after that we were busily looking for our room. We found it eventually and Bella unlocked the door. It was a cute little room with two beds in it. It was mostly pink, which was not necessarily my favorite color, but it was do for the beginning.

I was pretty sure that with a cool ability like ours, we should be in the mansion soon enough.

That was at least what I thought. If Jasper got in, we would to we only had to work on this Empath thing, but we already made it work a few times.

The room was halfway taken up by our suitcases, which caused me briefly to regret that I took so much with me.

"Should we unpack?" Bella asked sitting down on the bed on the right side.

"No, I'm tired. Did anyone tell you when we are going to get something to eat here?"

I flopped myself on the other bed.

"Yes. Alice said that we would have to go downstairs at seven for dinner. Breakfast starts at seven in the morning and on week-ends at nine. Lunch is during the week in school, week-ends at two o'clock. Anything else you want to know?"

"No, I'm good. It is almost seven, should we go downstairs?"

Bella sighed and nodded. We stepped out of our room and I noticed that we weren't the only ones, who decided to go to dinner a bit earlier. The finger pointing and whispering started again as soon as we stepped into the corridor.

"You'd think that those people had better stuff to do, but no, the most exciting thing here seems to be us. This sucks hard time," I complained .

"Yes, I know. It's like being in the zoo. Now I finally know what those poor monkeys feel like."

We went downstairs into the cafeteria. We had to line up to get our food and that was really the last thing I need right now. Everyone in the room seemed to be staring at us.

"Remind me to curse Laurent as soon as we see him again," I grumbled.

After five minutes of standing in line, we finally had our food and now had a new problem. Finding a table to sit. Preferably one where our fellow students weren't able to watch us as if we were a freaking science project.

The problem was quickly solved when I saw a dark haired girl waving madly at us. I was eying the girl warily, but Bella beckoned for me to follow her and so I did.

"Hey, I'm Jessica and you are our new students, right? This is so exciting."

She motioned for us to sit down in front of her. She wasn't the only one on the table. There was a blonde guy sitting right beside her and on his other side was a girl that was giving me nasty glares. To my right sat a pimply faced boy and I skidded a bit closer to Bella.

"I'm Bella and this is Chris," Bella introduced us. She was always the one to introduce us.

Jessica introduced the other people on the table to us.

The guy beside her was Mike and the disgusted looking girl was Lauren. Pimply face's name was Eric.

I pretended to care for once and send all of them a fake smile although I had to keep my eyes mostly on Mike, who was giving Bella strange glances.

"So, do you like it this far in our school?" Jessica asked.

She was constantly smiling-which made me wonder if her cheeks didn't hurt- but her expression seemed to slip just a little when she saw the looks that Mike gave Bella.

I raised my eyebrows at that and suppressed a giggle.

"Sure. Why not? It's a great school," Bella answered Jessica's question, but I could tell that she didn't really mean it. She was poking around in her food while saying this.

"I heard that you were hanging out with Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale. How did you meet _them_ already?"

Jessica looked at us expectantly and I started to get the feeling that she only waved us over to get this secret out of us. The way she had asked made it sound like it was something special to hang out with Alice and her boyfriend. The only thing I could say about them so far, was that they were a pretty strange couple.

"Her father asked her to keep us company, because we were here before the bus arrived with our things," Bella told her.

"Didn't he drive you? What have _you _done to deserve that?"Lauren asked the disgusted look still on her face and a nasty tone in her voice. I decided right then and there that I didn't like her.

"I didn't do anything," Bella defended herself, misinterpreting Lauren's obvious jealousy, "It was Chris who had a disagreement with Carlisle's son. I think his name's Dylan."

"You also know Dylan Cullen already? Talk about special new students, you guys rock."

Jessica found this far too exciting.

"What's so special about them?" I asked not really interested in anything that Jessica said. After all, they were just people. Okay, maybe strangely good-looking people that could work as teen models for any fashion magazine they wanted to, but still... just people.

"All of the Cullen children are black scarfs and have been rated as black scarfs in their in elementary school already. Normally, the higher ratings are for the older students, starting with the Junior in High school, simply because the younger ones are not really in control of their powers. But the Cull-"

"Are also not really in control of their powers," Mike interrupted with an annoyed expression on his face. "

"Of course, they are," Jessica argued.

"Last year Dylan Cullen was put under surveillance because of some incident in his Specialized magic class."

Jessica only waved him off and continued her speech as if Mike hadn't said anything.

Meanwhile I was wondering what he had just been talking about.

"Anyway, the three of them are like geniuses and they don't just hang out with anybody. Edward mostly walks around with Mason Silvers. Apart from Mason, Mason's girlfriend and whatever girl currently chases him, he only hangs out with his family."

"Emmett McCarthy and the Hales are also hanging out with him," Eric barged in, sounding like he wanted some attention on him as well.

What was wrong with those kids?

Jessica let out an annoyed sigh- which I found completely exaggerated- and rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I know that, but they could almost be considered as part of their family, since Jasper is dating Alice. And his sister is Alice's best friend which is why Rose's boyfriend hangs out with the as well. I don't think that Emmett would be part of the group if Rosalie Hale weren't his girlfriend," Jessica said that with an arrogant look on her face.

"Of course he would," Mike said, "Edward and Emmett had been hanging out a couple of times before Emmett got together with Rosalie. I think Edward used to tutor him or something."

I send a brief look in Bella's direction, who wore an expression similar to mine. It was definitely not normal that someone cared so much about other people's life and couldn't seem to shut up about it.

They all kind of reminded me of the group of guys in my old school that always sat together and discussed comics. I had always thought that they needed to get a life but seeing those idiots in front of me now, I decided that it was way better to be reading comics and argue about that instead of occupying oneself with the lives of other people.

"You should really get some more interesting topics than the Cullens. I've only bee here for a day and I can already tell you that Alice Cullen is pretty troublesome and scary, her boyfriend is oddly quiet and has a strange sense of humor and Dylan Cullen is an idiot."

I had been looking down at my plate when I had said that, so I didn't get to see the immediate reaction to my words until I looked up when I noticed that everyone was quiet.

Jessica had dropped her fork apparently and was now staring open-mouthed at me, Mike seemed to have forgotten how to close his mouth as well and Lauren had managed to change her disgusted expression to one of shock. Even Eric was staring disbelievingly at me.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Dylan and Edward Cullen are the two hottest boys in existence. Closely followed by Emmett McCarthy and Jasper Hale, who are both unfortunately not available anymore," Jessica informed us and Lauren bobbed her head in agreement.

"You can't call Dylan an idiot. Nobody does. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. Only exceptions are probably Alice and Rosalie," Lauren added.

"I'll make sure that this will be written on Dylan's gravestone, once I'm done with him," I mumbled. Bella elbowed my side and luckily neither one of the Cullen worshipers had heard me.

The rest of dinner was spent with listening to Jessica and Lauren talking about Edward, Dylan, Jasper and Emmett. But since the last two were already taken, it was mostly Edward and Dylan.

I noticed that Lauren's voice was awfully nasal and that was about it what I picked out from this conversation.

I was soon just as bored as Mike and Eric, who seemed to me like they had to listen to this a lot. Not even Bella tried to listen. Usually she did just out of politeness, but nobody cared if Edward Cullen looked angelic when he smiled and that he had "dreamy hair".

I might have cared if I had seen him in person but this was just boring. Bella and I hurried to finish eating and once we were done we excused ourselves and vanished as fast as we could.

When we were back in our room I quickly wrote an e-mail to Raven and then I crawled under the covers of my bed. Bella was looking for something else to wear and in the process she threw a pair of hot pants at me. I would have put them on, but I knew that they wouldn't fit me knowing that my butt was not as cute and normal sized as Bella's.

I stopped complaining about it though, because then Bella would start complaining about her appearance as well. It had taken me months to convince her that she was pretty.

What I actually said was gorgeous, but she only made it to pretty.

It was better than nothing, but still I thought that pretty was not the right word to describe my beautiful sister. Her beauty fit well to her being. She was calm and gentle. Not as forceful and bold as me. Sometimes I felt like the village idiot beside her.

Raven was the only one who knew about my little self-esteem issues, that came up every now and then, when I was comparing myself to Bella too much.

I didn't actually think of myself as ugly or anything like that, but Bella's presence always made me loose a few points. It was like putting a pretty little cupcake next to a fantastic wedding cake or something like that.

Raven always said that this was not true and that both of us were beautiful. It was just that we were so contrastive so we both were different kinds of beautiful.

I didn't really believe that and just settled for me being pretty and Bella being beautiful.

I got up and changed into my favorite black shorts and put on a white crop top.

"I don't want to go jogging," Bella whined when she saw what I had put on.

"You don't have to. You can let me go all by myself in this new school, where everybody is talking about me and where I could get lost," I answered.

Bella sighed and put on the same outfit as me.

"Oh Bella you shouldn't have," I giggled and put on my sneakers real quick. I liked to go jogging every evening but I had a feeling that these new weather conditions were going to demotivate me immensely.

It was the only sport I did voluntarily and I sometimes made Bella come with me. She didn't like sports any more than I did but we had to keep in shape somehow.

"We have to be back in the house at nine o'clock," Bella informed me when I dragged her outside.

"What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

"Then we have more than enough time."

We walked through the corridor and once again we were being watched closely. The whole house was quite busy and I rolled my eyes at everyone that stared at us. When we stepped out I shuddered slightly. This was much colder than Phoenix. Bella didn't seem to mind though.

"Aww, are you cold?", she asked mockingly and put an arm around my waist.

I stuck my tongue out at her and hugged her close to me.

"Yes, I am. Why are you not cold?"

I shivered again.

"I don't know, maybe I'm not as sensitive as you are."

"Hey Ladies, where are you going looking this hot?" Alice voice made me jump.

Several people were hanging out on the plaza again and Alice was one of them. She sat at the fountain with Jasper, Emmett, Dylan and two other people that I didn't recognize. One was a strikingly beautiful blond girl that looked like she just jumped of the cover of Sports Illustrated and the other was a boy with tousled bronze hair.

He was handsome, but I couldn't see too much of him from the distance. I quickly skipped over to where they sat and pulled Bella along.

Now that I was closer I could look properly at him. He looked like some kind of Greek god only hotter. His hair looked as if he had just gotten out of bed and his eyes where the most brilliant emerald green eyes I had ever seen. He was eying both of us curiously.

"We are invited to a secret party," I informed Alice and grinned brightly at her.

"What?" she screeched."How come that we are not invited? Is it one of those 'red house only' parties again. I hate those, I never get in."

She got up and started and was about to storm toward our house.

"Alice I was just kid-"

The sudden excitement I felt rushing through me was breathtaking. It was the strongest emotion I ever felt from Bella and it nearly knocked me over.

"Kidding?" Emmett offered to end my sentence.

I nodded silently completely dazed.

I looked at Bella to find out what the cause of her excitement was.

She was blushing deeply, looking at the floor.

I looked at her in confusion, but seeing that bronze-haired boy was still looking curiously at her I guessed where her excitement came from.

I couldn't blame her. The guy was gorgeous.

"Oh well, then it doesn't matter I guess. So this is my brother Edward by the way and this is Jasper's sister Rosalie," Alice said gesturing toward the blond girl and the boy that had been looking at Bella.

So that was Edward Cullen. Well, I had to admit that he was indeed one of the best-looking people I had ever seen. I quickly glanced over at Dylan and noticed that he didn't look much like his brother even if he might have been somewhat equally gorgeous- only not in my mind anymore, now that he was officially on my 'dislike' list. No pair of striking ice-blue eyes, no amount of dark- brown wavy hair and no beautiful smile would change y mind about that. Even if I had a thing for guys with chin-length hair.

Bella looked up again quickly to deliver her line.

"Hey, I'm Bella and this is Chris."

When she looked at Edward she blushed again, but I didn't comment on that because something else happened. The fountain stuttered and then spat out a bit too much water.

Emmett, Alice and Jasper- who were sitting on it's rim- were sloshed with water.

I laughed at the three of them, while Alice started screeching like mad.

"Chill, Alice. It's just water," I said to her and then I pulled Bella away so we could finally go jogging.

As soon as we were out of range from Alice and her clique, I attacked Bella. "So you are into Edward Cullen, huh? Your blush was so adorable."

"Oh no, was I blushing? Oh god how embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it sweetheart, it looked good on you," I reassured her.

She mumbled something, but I didn't hear what she said.

An hour later we returned from our jogging tour. Right on time.

We stood in the entry hall of our house trying to catch our breaths. Lots of people were walking in and out of the common room and of course they didn't pass us without eying us real quick.

Some pretty boy came up to me and said,"Hey, I'm Jesse."

I nodded not able to answer, because I was busily breathing.

He noticed that. "Maybe you should get something to drink, you look like you worked hard."

His eyes were roaming over my sweaty body.

The look Bella and I gave him must have told him that we had no idea were the kitchen was.

He beckoned us to follow him and led us to a door that was hidden behind the staircase.

Of course the kitchen was huge. It had to be, they had a few hundred students to feed.

Jesse went over to the big fridge and took out two water bottles that he passed us.

I pushed myself on the counter and emptied the whole bottle in one go.

"Hey."

I smiled breathlessly at Jesse. He was looking at me with a somewhat dumbfounded expression. "I'm Chris."

Bella cleared her throat.

"And this is Bella.", I quickly added without looking at her.

"Do you guys want to play pool with us?", Jesse asked smiling flirtatiously at me.

I was about to agree, when Bella dragged me from the counter.

"We would love to, but we are kind of exhausted. It was a long day. Maybe some other time. And thanks for the water."

Bella smiled a little too brightly at Jesse and pulled me out of the kitchen.

"Okay I'll catch you later," he yelled after us.

"Why are we not playing pool?" I asked.

"Because I'm tired and not in the mood for socializing right now. I wanna take a shower and go to sleep and you will do so as well," Bella said and opened our bedroom door.

I just shrugged and quickly grabbed my toiletries and my towel.

The bathrooms were on the end of the corridor.

I hated communal bathrooms, but right now the bathroom was almost empty.

A few girls stood in front a sink and brushed their teeth and others just walked out of a shower. Well, at least the showers were separated and had curtains.

I hung my towel on a hook beside the shower and stepped in.

I quickly undressed and threw the clothes out.

There was no way that I was walking around naked.

As soon as the hot water hit my skin, I felt like home again.

All my tense muscles relaxed and I actually forgot for once today where we were.

After ten minutes though the hot water was gone I was brought back to reality abruptly.

I stuck my head out of the shower to look for my towel and quickly wrapped myself into it.

I couldn't see Bella anywhere and when I called for her I got no answer, so I guessed that she was already in our room.

I quickly brushed my teeth and brushed my hair and then the thought that I should have taken clothes with me crossed my mind.

I silently prayed that no one would be out in the corridor, but of course it was fuller than it had been when we went into the bathroom.

Most people were now returning from downstairs.

I was preparing myself to fight through the crowd, but it wasn't necessary.

Everyone went out of my way and I strutted through the corridor only wrapped in a towel.

I heard a few whistles, but ignored them and soon enough I vanished in my room.

Bella was sitting on her bed and was typing on her laptop.

I guessed that she wrote the e-mail for Raven.

She looked up quickly and smiled amused.

"Did you really not take any clothes with you?"

"Nope," I answered and got dressed quickly.

As soon as I was in my sweatpants I felt how tired I actually was.

Bella finished typing and turned her laptop off.

"Are you ready to go to sleep?" she asked me.

"Yay, our first night in Freak town city," I said with fake enthusiasm.

Bella giggled at that and turned the light off.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I know, I love you too. Sleep well."

"You too." And then I was gone.

The next morning came much too early for my taste.

Bella threw herself on me and sang,"Rise and shine, beautiful child."

"Don't you have any respect for the sleeping?" I mumbled and pushed her off of me.

I was still half asleep and had forgotten that our beds were not as big as they had been at home. So Bella fell on the ground with a loud thump. I heard her squeal, when she fell and I was immediately awake and by her side.

"Oh my god, Bella. I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me."

I was mumbling a hundred apologies, until I realized that Bella was laughing.

"It's alright, I guess I should start respecting the sleeping. Come on let's get dressed and then we'll have breakfast."

This time the bathroom was much fuller, than yesterday.

There were girls everywhere, trying to get a spot in front of a mirror.

That was just ridiculous and I just wanted to brush my teeth. Just like everyone else did, I pushed a girl away from the sink, since she was not even using it.

She was just applying her fifth layer of mascara.

So I pushed her away and made room for me and Bella.

I know it was rude, but I did say 'excuse me'.

"Are you crazy? I was using that mirror," I heard the girl screech.

I turned to smile sweetly at her.

"I'm sorry, we just need the sink real quick. We'll be gone in a second."

I looked at the dirty blond girl in front of me.

She looked like the classic bitch. The kind of girl that would make others feel bad about themselves and throws herself at every guy that was not running at the count of three.

"Are you not the Swans? Seriously, if I were you I wouldn't be so rude. You are not qualified to be here, so you should just keep quiet and try to fit in. You're not in your little normal world anymore. There's nothing special about you and that is what this school is all about. I think that-"

"I'm sorry, but we didn't even want to hear what you have to say. Maybe you should talk to someone who cares about what you think," Bella piped in and I gave her an impressed glance.

It didn't happen often that Bella voiced my thoughts in exact the same words I would use.

Maybe I was rubbing off on her. The blond girl huffed and turned arrogantly to walk away.

"Weirdo," I sang and Bella nodded in agreement.

We quickly finished and returned to our room.

I was about to put on my second ankle boot with a cute bow at the side, when someone knocked on our door.

I looked at Bella, but she was standing in front of the mirror straightening her hair. I hopped over to the door to open it and there was Alice standing, smiling brightly with Jasper behind her.

"Good Morning. Oh my gosh, these shoes are so cute! Are you ready to head out for breakfast?" she just gushed and looked expectantly at us.

"Good Morning Alice. Good Morning Jasper," Bella and I sang in unison.

I put on my second shoe and Bella finished her hair.

Both of us grabbed our jackets and and bags real quick and stepped out.

"Let's go."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So we are having breakfast with all of your friends?" Bella asked to make sure she just heard Alice right.

"Yes, of course. They all want to get to know you better. You are like the most interesting people in school right now," Alice chirped happily.

"So you only hang out with us, because we are interesting? And here I thought you liked us,"I mumbled not really offended. I didn't think that there was a single person in this school who didn't think of us as a shiny new toy.

"Well, I really enjoy your company and so does Alice, but still she's right. You are the most interesting persons in this school right now," Jasper commented. The way he said it was like he knew what I had just thought and he tried to reassure me that we were not just a new toy to them.

"I really don't understand what exactly makes us so interesting. I get that we are the only ones that are not born into this world and we don't know anything about it, but I still don't get it," Bella said.

The confusion written on her face made me giggle quietly.

Alice ushered us into one of the Coffee Bars she had showed us yesterday and there at a table were the others already.

I made sure to sit on the opposite side of Dylan, but because Bella chose to sit beside him, she was for once not at my side.

I sat between Edward and Rosalie and I felt a bit uneasy.

Jasper was meanwhile trying to answer Bella's question.

"The thing is that magic itself is being inherited from your parents. It's part of our genes and so the first thing we should wonder about is, why do you seem to have magic running through your genes, when your parents don't?" Jasper started to explain.

"We learned that is some kind of evolution. That humans who seem to have the same abilities us we do, are not quite the same as we are. You do have magic inside of you, but the source seems to be something different. It could also be that you might not be limited in the same ways as we are, or that you can't reach our normal limit. It is all possible, because nobody really knows anything," Edward just took over the explaining as soon as he noticed what we were talking about.

Bella looked at him in awe.

_Oh Bella, just stop gazing at a guy like that_, I thought to myself shaking my head.

Bella looked at me in sudden surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you just say something?" Bella asked confused.

"No."

"But I heard you talking."

"Maybe you imagine it. I didn't say anything."

"Hmm...maybe my inner voice sounds like you," Bella joked weakly.

Everyone at the table was looking back and forth between us.

Edward was looking at Bella intently, while she seemed to be thinking hard.

_I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine her voice_, I heard Bella say.

"Yes, you did," I answered lazily and wondered why Edward seemed to get all excited.

"Who?" Alice asked confused.

Now I was confused as well and actually everybody except the grinning Edward seemed to be confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You were just talking."

"Yes, I answered Bella."

"But she didn't say anything."

I frowned and Jasper looked like he was having a headache.

"You guys should stop feeling so confused. It gives me a headache," he groaned.

"Speaking of headache," Bella said and rubbed her temples, "I have this annoying tingling feeling in my head."

I just raised my eyebrows at her.

Edward looked at me and his excitement didn't seem to have died down. I wondered what he was so jumpy about. Surely, it couldn't be that Alice just snatched some of his bacon of his plate.

Just then I felt some kind tingling or something like that in my head.

I frowned and sort of pushed the thought of it away and turned to Edward to ask him what his problem was.

Meanwhile Bella had stopped rubbing her temples and looked kind of relieved, while Jasper was now giving Edward funny looks.

All of this kind of creeped me out.

I didn't even know why.

"Would someone mind telling what is going on?" Rosalie asked annoyed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "You all just keep making strange faces and they change each second."

"Well, it seems that the twins have an ability that they didn't know of," Edward answered her.

"Huh?" Bella and I asked at the same time, looking at Edward with dumbfounded expressions.

"Edward, could you stop confusing them so much, I'm feeling a bit dizzy," Jasper groaned.

I quickly looked at Jasper and realized what Edward must mean.

"If you're talking about the empath thing, I already knew that. I just wanted to wait until we know more about our abilities," I said.

That made Jasper and Alice looked up in surprise.

"Empath?"

"Yes. Bella and I are Empaths as well."

"Not two more of them.", I heard Emmett groan. Meanwhile Edward shook his head and Dylan grinned strangely.

"You're not empaths..." Edward started.

"Of course we are. I get an amazing insight into Bella's emotions and she into mine," I shot back defensively.

"That's not how it works,"Dylan said in a scholarly voice to me. I rolled my eyes as soon as he started talking.

"An empath doesn't just feel the emotions of one single person. He gets the emotions of every person in his range. And he can also influence them to a certain extent. Also is this a very rare gift and Jasper is right now one of three living empaths of which he is the only one, who can actually influence the emotions of others. It's actually his fault that the definition of empath had to be changed."

Dylan shot me an arrogant look, when everybody, except Bella, nodded in agreement at his explanation.

"Well, maybe we just work a bit differently. I thought that we as normal borns tend to have different limitations than all of you." I quipped and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Chris, I think that Edward already knows what our ability is. Maybe you should just let him talk," Bella scolded me.

I ground my teeth together in annoyance.

Edward looked back and forth between us and looked as if he was trying to read us.

Then I remembered something. Wasn't he supposed to be a mind reader?

I didn't want my thoughts to be read.

Can you push a persons out of your thoughts?

Maybe I should get some sort of helmet to protect me

"How did you do that?" Edward demanded, looking like he was on the verge of finding out the secret of life.

"Do what?"

"You already did it the second time and I want to know how."

"What are you talking about?" everyone at the table asked at the same time.

Bella looked curiously at me, but there was something else in her expression that I couldn't place.

"You just pushed me out of your thoughts... again," Edward exclaimed, bringing my attention back to him.

"Really? How did you do that?" Dylan asked.

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you," I hissed at him.

Dylan glared at me for a second and then he simply asked Edward the same question again.

"Whoa, before you explain that. You should explain the other thing," Emmett said, sounding a bit lost.

Edward was taking a deep breath and was about to start when Alice's phone rang.

"Hey, Dad."

Everybody at the table groaned at the interruption.

"Yes, we'll be there in a sec."

She closed her phone and quickly got up.

"There's no time for explaining right now. Carlisle wants the twins for specialization class right now."

"I thought classes didn't start until tomorrow," I started to whine right away.

"They don't, but since no one really knows what you can do, you have to take extra classes starting now."

"Can we come along?" Emmett asked.

Alice closed her eyes for a second

"Sure."

"Do we have to?" Dylan groaned.

"No you don't, but then you won't hear what Edward will tell Carlisle about the twins. It's quite fascinating."

Alice smiled brightly at me and Bella.

Right now I was really starting to feel like a science experiment.

In the end all of them were coming along and all of us walked to the school.

Emmett was joking around with Bella the whole time and Rosalie just rolled her eyes at him.

He really was childish, but I liked him. At least he made Bella laugh.

Edward was behind them, watching them with a strange expression and Dylan was walking beside him, talking eagerly to him about things that I didn't deem important.

Alice and Jasper were walking in front, wrapped up in a conversation.

If you saw them like that you wouldn't think that they actually have a relationship, they look more like best friends, which was probably what they were as well.

I was walking somewhere at the side of all this watching each of them.

I didn't feel exactly left out, but somehow I felt strange. A little out of place.

It wasn't exactly the people, but being here, made me feel just a bit different and I didn't know if it was good or bad.

Rosalie seemed to get bored with Emmett's lame jokes and stories and walked over to me.

"Hey," she greeted. She had seemed a bit intimidating to me earlier, but right now she was smiling beautifully and I felt a bit better.

"Hey, yourself."

"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning a bit.

"Nothing. Why are you asking?"

"Because you seem a bit off. Scared of classes?"

I thought about it.

Then the school came in sight and my heart suddenly jumped and I started to feel a little sick.

"Before you mentioned it, I wasn't," I joked weakly.

"Don't worry about it. You'll do just fine," she reassured me.

"I'm not so sure about that. All of you already know what you can do and know how to handle it. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. So maybe I am a fire manipulator, but I don't even know how that works. I have never done it before, so I wouldn't know what I should do,"I started to rush the words and my voice got a little high pitched.

I noticed that everyone was now focusing on me and Rosalie.

Alice chirped from where she was,"You know, none of our abilities are easy to control, but we managed it, because it's just a part of who we are."

"Wow Alice, you sounded like you just jumped out of the Lion King movie. It's not as good as Mufasa though, because I'm still not feeling better. Sorry."

Alice looked like she was searching for the right words, but Rosalie spoke first.

"I think what Alice was trying to tell you is, that it's not as hard as you think. These powers belong to us, it's like a natural instinct. It's the same as walking and talking or breathing. It's just there, you only need to train it a little. This is far easier than learning how to write and read."

"And considering the fact that we already learned to read and write when we were four, you shouldn't worry so much. You said yourself that we are geniuses. And you actually told me that we'll be at the top of the class in no time.", Bella said softly.

She seemed to be just fine, she was now only concerned for me.

"Yes, I said that. But that was to make you feel better, because you didn't seem too happy and at the time. I didn't really take all of this seriously, so it was easy to actually believe these things. Now I feel like I'm going to fail miserably, disappointing everyone who has some kind of faith in me and wasting everybody's time."

By now we were almost in front of the school. Bella was at my side in an instant.

"First of all you couldn't ever disappoint me, because you are a great person and you already did so many great things. I know that you mainly came here, because I wanted to. And secondly, nobody should complain, about you wasting there time, because the school wanted us here so it's their own fault."

Bella gave me a fierce look while saying that.

This actually made me feel better. I smiled gently at my lovable twin sister

We stood in front of the school already and I pecked Bella quickly, but I was aware of the strange looks that Edward gave my sweet sister and I tried to ignore Dylan's goofy expression. I didn't even know what the hell made him look that stupid just then

"Awww, you guys are so sweet.", Alice cooed and pulled both of us in a hug.

She was even stronger than Raven and I had to gasp for air desperately.

"Alice, let them breath, Carlisle wants them alive," Jasper said gently, prying her away from us and smiling fondly at us.

Rosalie had a similar expression on her face, but it changed and she looked as if she remembered something.

"Didn't you guys already perform magic? If you did, you really shouldn't have any trouble with this."

"Well, apparently we already did, but I'm not too sure about it," Bella answered hesitantly.

"If these stupid incidents were really magic, then it would mean that I set the school on fire," I said thoughtfully, thinking back. "I should do that again!"

**A/N: The chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones, but I hope you liked it anyway. I don't have anything to say, so please make my day, by reviewing ;)**


	4. Heaven and Hell, Fire and Water

**_A/N:_ Okay guys, the chapter might be a little short, but I wanted to update as fast as I could, so please don't be upset. I'm a bit disappointed about the lack of reviews, but I hope that it will change after this chapter...anyway here it goes:**

* * *

_Chris' PoV_

I heard Bella sigh behind me, when I walked into the school. I looked around.

We were in a giant hall, with an auditorium in the middle and the classrooms were around it.

On both side of the entrance were two big staircases.

I couldn't look around any more though, because Alice dragged me upstairs and pushed all of us into one of the classrooms.

One quick told me that there was absolutely nothing special about the classroom.

There was a black board and lots of boring school desks.

A few of those desks had been pushed aside.

Carlisle was sitting on the teacher's desk, which stood in it's assigned space, talking to...Laurent.

"Laurent!" I exclaimed almost happily. For some reason, I felt better now that I knew for sure that he was here. It was kinda idiotic though, seeing that I didn't know him any better than the rest of the people here

Laurent raised his head reluctantly and looked at me for a brief moment before he let his gaze wander over to Bella.

He just ignored me and gave Bella a pleasant smile.

"It's nice to see that you have arrived here safely," he said to her in a soft voice.

"Is that an indirect way to say, that you wished something happened to me on the way?" I asked in a bored tone and sat down on one of the chairs. Laurent just ignored me all the same.

"You know Frenchman, you can ignore me all you want, I still know that you can hear me."

"That's enough Chris, he's your teacher have some respect," Carlisle interrupted gently.

"Sorry," I mumbled with a shrug and I heard the others whisper among themselves.

"So what exactly are we here for?" Bella asked.

"Specialization class,"Laurent answered simply.

"And what is specialization class?" I asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

The smile Laurent gave me was almost pitiful.

"We took this class when we were in 8th grade. In that class, we found out what our gifts were. We call it specializing. Basically it's a lot of concentrating and stuff like that until you make something happen," Alice answered.

"That doesn't sound like much fun," Bella pouted.

"It's not," the whole Cullen and friends clan chorused.

"So I really do get to set the school on fire again?" I asked.

"No, we will keep you away from flames for now. There's a special room were we practice with our fire manipulators. We'll go there later," Carlisle answered quickly.

"So what am I supposed to do for now?"

"We'll try to find out if you have any other abilities."

"I thought Mr. Decour, can sense other gifts and even rate them," Rosalie threw in.

I looked at Laurent. If that really was his gift, then there should be no doubt that we are magical after all, but why doesn't he just tell us what we can do. "Yes, that's right, but I can't read the twins properly. It's all blurry and I think it's because they didn't use it consciously yet," Laurent mused.

"Or they have some kind of shield," Edward piped in. He sounded like he had just been dying to say exactly these words.

"What do you mean?" Carlisle sounded genuinely interested.

"There was a little incident earlier. Bella thought she had heard Chris talking, but Chris didn't even say a word. I listened to Bella's thoughts then and I actually had a little trouble doing so. Bella was convinced that she heard Chris talk and that thought sort of flashed into Chris' mind."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emmett asked.

"It means that Bella can put her own thoughts into Chris' head and the other way round. But that's actually not all. I wanted to follow the thought but I couldn't even enter Chris' mind. So I tried to read Bella again, but I couldn't see too much there either. Then Bella complained over a headache and I think that she sensed me intruding her mind. So I tried to get into Chris head again and I actually got a quick glimpse, before she felt sort of the same headache as Bella before and pushed me out of her head. And right now, I can't enter either of their minds."

"You were reading our minds?" Bella asked horrified.

Edward nodded and watched her with the strange expression of his. Now that he had finally told us what made him bouncy like a bunny before, I came to the conclusion that Edward was a nerd. Hot, but nerdy.

Bella blushed furiously and I bit back a laugh.

She was so lucky that Edward apparently couldn't read her thoughts right now.

"So their minds are connected and protected?" Carlisle asked curiously.

Edward nodded eagerly.

"Not only that, according to Chris they also sense each other's emotions," he continued.

Now Carlisle and Laurent were watching us interestedly.

"They are bonded,"Laurent whispered.

Everyone, except for me and Bella, gasped.

Yep, now we were back to feeling like a science experiment.

"Bonded?" Carlisle asked excitedly.

"Bonded?" Dylan sounded disbelieving.

"Bonded.", Laurent answered.

"Bonded," Jasper and Rosalie said thoughtfully.

"Bonded," Emmett said indifferently and shrugged.

"What the heck does '_bonded_' even mean?" Bella shouted. So for once she was less patient than me.

"It means that the two of you have a bond that connects you to each other. It hasn't happened in hundreds of years, so this is a pretty big deal," Carlisle explained.

"Great! As if we needed one more reason to be different from everybody else," I muttered discontentedly.

"Well as a matter of fact, it is even more special than just being so rare. It even less common to have a natural bond. This is something that happened only twice in our history, but you'll learn all about it in school this year."

"You don't really mean the legend of hell and heaven, do you?" Dylan asked disbelievingly and Emmett and Edward rolled their eyes at that.

"Why yes, that is exactly what I mean."

"But it's a story. Nobody even knows if it's true,"Edward complained.

"It is true, to a certain extent. Of course the story has changed over the years."

"What story?" all the girls- plus Jasper- in the room asked.

"Hell and Heaven were twins. Both of them had the power to create. It was apparently a gift from god or something-" Emmett started, but Edward continued.

"Heaven and Hell were nothing alike and yet they were exactly the same. Each of them carried the piece of the ultimate power-"

"And what power was that?"

I was starting to think, that they had all lost their minds.

Dylan smiled cockily at me and spoke instead of Edward.

"It was the power of life and death. Hell carried death and heaven carried life. Both of them were the only magical creatures in a world full of human, if you didn't count the mystical creatures and so they decided to create more of their kind. It was their gift after all. At first they tried to do t together, but they had very different opinions and they didn't agree on many things. They created three beings together and then they decided that they should do it individually after seeing that the three of them hadn't really been what they hoped for. So Heaven created our ancestors, the witches and Hell created the beings that name themselves demons. They liked what they had accomplished and congratulated themselves-"

"There are demons too?" Bella asked mortified.

I was really starting to get the feeling that something was horribly wrong with this place.

"Yes. They are not exactly our enemies, but we don't interact with them either. They are not as evil as you might think, well some of them are, but's the same with witches and humans."

"The rest of the story?" I reminded.

"Oh yeah, well the demons and witches longed for the power of life and death and fought each other to claim it, the humans tried to protect Heaven and Hell, but at some point the both of them decided to just seal the power away and let it be guarded. It is said that only the bonded ones can open the seal, but of course they didn't. They separated each other for good and lived their lives. The end," Emmett finished the story.

"So what is that supposed to be telling us? That Bella and I can release the power of life and death?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, that's not it." Carlisle chuckled."It's not so much the story than the people. Heaven and Hell were the first to have a natural bond, which made them quite powerful. The boys didn't tell you all the details, but you'll learn all about it anyway."

"So, can we start now? The stories are starting to get strange," Bella suggested.

"Yes,"Laurent agreed. He had been quiet the whole time, watching the scene in front of him. "Sit down in front the desk."

He gestured toward the teacher's desk.

I heard the others groan, but they sat down all around the room to watch anyway.

Bella and I went to sit in front of the desk.

"So apparently, the twins already have a second ability, so maybe we should let Chris work with a flame after all," Carlisle mused.

"I'll go get the extinguisher," Dylan sighed and I saw him disappear right in front of my eyes.

He just popped out of existence. Well, there had been some kind of weird blue smoke around him, but it vanished exactly when he did.

And one minute later he reappeared in front of Carlisle and handed him the extinguisher.

So that was the beaming.

It was kinda cool, but there was no way in hell that I would admit that.

"That was so cool," Bella blurted out.

I hissed disapointendly at that.

She should have more dignity and should know better than to flatter an idiot like him.

Laurent placed a small ball in front of Bella. "Try to move it with your mind," he instructed.

Bella raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just concentrate on it and try to make it move."

Then he was searching around in his pockets until he pulled out a cigarette and lightened it.

He placed it in front of me and instructed me to try and make a flame.

I just raised my eyebrow at him.

Laurent sighed and shook his head at me.

I looked at Bella, but she was already staring at the ball in deep concentration.

So she really took this serious. By now I realized everybody did, because everyone became quiet.

"Chris, could you please start now?" Carlisle whispered softly and gestured toward the cigarette.

I wrinkled my nose at the smell, but nodded anyway. I had no clue what they wanted me to do. I just looked at it. But what good would looking at it do.

I saw a little glim at the tip and as soon as I saw that, it had me trapped. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, like it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

I was lost in the little glim and I forgot everything around me.

But still nothing really happened, I just felt happy watching it, it fulfilled me with a certain emotion that I couldn't place, but that feeling vanished when the glim went off.

I looked around disorientated.

Jasper smiled gently at me and nodded hos head in approval as if I had done something right, but I hadn't nothing happened.

Jasper seemed to sense this because he said. "You felt the magic, that's already a huge step forward, some people don't feel it, they just use their powers anyhow not really having a connection to them. You already seem to have the connection."

Carlisle looked at me with a proud smile. And Laurent, for once did not frown at me.

Bella was looking proudly at me as well, then she looked at the ball and sighed in frustration.

Laurent noticed that and placed a feather in front of her instead.

He just put a cigarette in front of me again.

And again I got this wonderful, warm, fuzzy feeling when I saw the glim, but nothing happened.

For the next two and a half hours it went like this.

Laurent placed constantly new objects in front of Bella and nothing really happened.

Once I thought I saw that little book slide a bit over the table, but that's about it.

Finally Laurent ran out of cigarettes, because my head started hurting from inhaling this much smoke and all the concentration.

Why did this guy carry so many cigarettes around anyway?

Bella huffed in frustration. "You'd think this would be as easy as pouring water over our Liberian, but no when I actually want something to happen, it just doesn't work."

"You know what? Maybe we just made a mistake," Laurent mused.

He looked at Dylan and Edward.

"Could one of you please get a glass of water?"

"Sure," Edward said and darted out of the room in the same second.

Two seconds later he was back, with a glass off water in his hand. He handed it to Bella.

I saw their fingers touch and then I felt some sort of electrical jolt go through me.

I gasped in shock at this strong emotion. And so did Edward, Bella and Jasper. So much for privacy.

If it was always going to be like that between Edward and Bella, I should run away as soon as these two are together in one room.

Bella was gazing intently in Edward's eyes, who was gazing right back.

Nobody said anything for a while until, I started to get the whole butterfly-in-my-tummy feeling and started to feel attracted to Edward.

"Jesus, you guys. Stop it!" I yelled, making both of them jump.

Bella blushed furiously and turned quickly to place the water on the table. Edward cleared his throat in embarrassment and went back to where he sat earlier. Bella looked at the glass intently, but she was not concentrating on it. Her mind was racing, but luckily I couldn't her the exact thoughts. I didn't want to hear her little fantasies with Edward in them. I shook my head at her and looked at the glass, that she should be concentrating on. The water was still moving from the quick movement Bella made just a second ago.

Just like I thought, this whole thing was harder than everybody said. I knew that it would end like this, but no one ever listened to me. Maybe we were just not magical and all of this was a big mistake, or maybe we were just to stupid to figure our own powers out.

As I was drifting off into my La La Land, I was suddenly very aware of something. Something was disturbing me, but I didn't know what. Something in this room was kind of unnatural, but I didn't see it. I quickly looked around. Everybody had started chatting quietly. Laurent and Carlisle had been talking among themselves throughout this whole thing, taking notes now and then. Right now they seemed to discuss something. I was still on alert, but I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Jasper finally looked up and at me in confusion and then I saw what had set me off like that. The water in the glass was still moving. It had been three minutes ago that Bella set the glass down, so the water should be still by now, But it moved even more than before. It actually went over the rim, but it didn't spill.

That was what was disturbing me. I had been staring at the glass, but I hadn't really looked at it. Jasper followed my gaze and nudged Alice to look as well. She gasped in surprise and suddenly all eyes were on Bella. She didn't seem to notice. She was now really concentrating on the glass, or rather the water, but her thoughts were still all over the place. SO she wasn't even doing this on purpose. The water rose out of the glass and shifted itself into various shapes.

Laurent and Carlisle were quickly taking notes. The water bubble came closer to me and Bella. I instinctively flinched back. Something told me, I shouldn't be too close right now. Bella's mind seemed to calm and she stretched her hand out to...grab? the water. As it touched her hand, it started to glow and her hand turned ito water as well. Her hand and the water fusioned and now she had a glowing water hand.

"That's so cool," Bella whispered, finally aware of what she was doing. Then the water dried of and all that was left was her hand again.

"Where did it go?" she asked, sounding a bit sad. Carlisle beamed at her like she just gave him the most wonderful present on earth.

"You probably absorbed it. When you started this think I would have thought you were a water manipulator, but they can't absorb the water, since they can only manipulate it, but you just absorbed it like that. I wonder if it is the same with your sister..." Laurent started to explain, but drifted off.

"You will not set me on fire," I screeched and got up immediately.

Since Bella pulled her little stunt I felt a tiny bit more irritable, because she seemed to get along with this nonsense and I didn't.

"Why not? You are a witch after all," Dylan chimed in, appearing behind me.

Meanwhile everyone else was busily congratulating Bella.

For some reason this made me even angrier and Dylan's stupid comment didn't help.

I knew it was stupid to be this jealous, but I couldn't help it. At the same time I was still happy for Bella and so I just smiled kindly at her and she smiled back. My temper backed down a little and I stood there with Dylan hovering behind me annoying me with his presence.

"So I guess we don't have to use Plan B on Bella, but what about Chris?" Carlisle asked looking at me with a thoughtful expression.

"We'll have to do it, just to see what exactly she can do," Laurent answered. Carlisle nodded.

"I guess we should head to the Pyro room now. We'll have all the fire equipment that we need there. We should let her start with a small flame. But how do we get her angry?"

Getting me angry? They should have mentioned that a second ago.

Dylan suddenly put his arm around my shoulders

"That shouldn't be a problem," he answered Carlisle question.

"Get your hands off of me," I snapped and ducked away. Dylan just smiled smugly.

"Why, don't you like it when I touch you?" he asked mockingly.

I huffed and decided not to answer. I wasn't going to let him make me angry, he didn't deserve this satisfaction. Emmett nudged Jasper and gestured to us. Jasper chuckled a little. I glared at both of them for a second.

"Apparently, Dylan you're not as good as it as you were yesterday," Carlisle noted.

"Of course I am, kiddo here just doesn't want to show it."

"Kiddo?"I screeched.

Forgotten was the plan not to let him get to me.

"See?", Dylan said smugly.

"You are such an arrogant asshole. I don't even know what has gotten into all of these girls minds to think that you're hot. If I ever have to listen to Lauren and Jessica worshiping you again, I will have to drown myself,"I spat at him.

"Are we again at this topic? You know there's no point to deny my appeal. The first thing you did when you saw me was flirting, so you shouldn't be talking like this."

"Well, maybe I was flirting with you, because I hoped you would carry my bags for me."

"Don't you ever get tired of lying to yourself?"

"Don't you?"

"Sweetie, I said from the first second on that you're not my type. By now you should be over it."

"I am over it."

"So why do you keep bringing it up?"

"Why do you keep annoying me?"

"Because it's fun."

I sighed in frustration. I wasn't even angry, just frustrated.

In that moment I saw Jasper mouthing something at Dylan. I looked questioningly at him, but he just shook his head.

"Maybe we should try to be friends," Dylan suddenly suggested.

"Why would I want that?"

"Because then, I might annoy you less."

I thought about it for a second, it couldn't hurt. And he said try, that doesn't mean anything in my book.

"Fine," I grumbled.

"Great," Dylan beamed at me and held his arms open as if he expected a hug from me.

I just raised my eyebrow at him.

"Oh come on. One friendly little hug, doesn't hurt anybody."

I sighed and gave in. This will better be quick.

I stepped toward him and he pulled me close him in a second.

He was crushing me against his chest and I was trying to get free, but he didn't let go yet. So I just let it happen and enjoyed his scent.

Oh, wait a sec...ENJOY. HIS. SCENT? Something must be wrong with me.

Just then Dylan whispered."You know, it is quite easy to trick lovesick little girls."

And then his hands travelled down my body and he grabbed my butt, pinching it hard. That move right there, just destroyed any friendly feeling I might have ever had toward him. My butt was holy. I didn't like it, but at the same time it was my favorite body part. Grabbing or touching it of any kind was an absolute no-go.

People had been send to the nurse already for just slightly brushing it. And now here I was in the arms off this big jerk, his hands all over my butt squeezing it and stroking it slightly. He was enjoying this a little to much.

I tried to keep my cool and growled quietly."Hands. off. ass."

"Why? I thought you liked that," he whispered seductively in my ear and then slapped me on my ass.

That's when I lost it. I saw red.

"LET GO OF ME THIS INSTANT!" I yelled and started to feel hot.

I heard a scream and Dylan's arm were immediately gone. My anger was quickly replaced by a familiar emotion. The red haze disappeared and I saw what had actually happened. I was on fire. Really on fire. I looked my arm and the only thing I saw were flames. Strange enough that they didn't burn me, but they also felt pleasant. My normal flesh and blood body was not exactly gone, I still felt it, but it had change it this flaming hot body. The flames were all over me and it felt really nice. It was like coming home, or something like that. The flames felt like they were a part of me and I could actually hear them whispering softly. They were angry, because I had been angry just seconds ago, but now that I have calmed down, they also seemed to calm. The raging flames turned into smaller and quiet flames. They waited for instructions I gave them. "This is amazing.", I heard Carlisle and Laurent exclaim.

"Chris, is there anythin else you can do?", Laurent asked me.

"Like what?"

"I don't know something." I though for a moment. The flames were starting to beg me to do something._ Alright little cuties, what can you do?_ I asked them in my mind_ Everything you want, _they whispered back._ You know I would love to burn Dylan a little right now, but I don't wanna hurt him_ I thought_ Pure thoughts, reveal the blue fire_ they whispered. _What blue fire?_ These flames were confusing me. A little spark jumped off of me and onto one of the desk. It immediately started burning, only the flame was entirely blue. Then it stopped burning and the desk was one hundred percent okay.

"Well, that's something. You sure are a fast learner.", Laurent said satisfied. I turned to him

"I didn't do that. They just showed me what the blue fire is."

"Who is they?", Bella asked curiously. Something in her eyes told me that she already had an idea.

"The flames. They speak to me." Bella smiled at that and looked fondly at her hand. It turned into water in exact that second, only this time it took over her whole body. A few seconds later, she was just like me not a human body anymore, but a water human. She looked like she was flowing.

"That is so cool.", we both said at the same time grinning at each other. Everybody else was momentarily in awe. I looked at Bella. I could see every curve of her body and she looked like she was naked. "What happened to your clothes?", both of us asked at the same time and at the same time we looked down on ourselves. I looked exactly like Bella right now, only that I was burning.

"Well either you're able to change the state of your clothes as well, or they magically pop in and out of existence or they are gone.", Carlisle answered for us.

"I hope it's not the last.", Bella mumbled.

"Are we getting black scarfs now?", I asked excitedly and that seemed to wake Alice up.

"Ooh Daddy, please make them back scarfs.", she was jumping to my side, although careful to keep her distance and started jumping up and down.

"We'll see about that.", Carlisle answered and smiled fondly at his daughter. I stifled a yawn, but Laurent noticed it anyway.

"Maybe you should get some rest. This already more progress than we expected you to make. You need to be ready for classes tomorrow." I nodded slightly and then I paused. "How do I turn this off?", I asked. It was a kind of natural state for me so I couldn't really tell how I should get out of it.

Bella shrugged and so did everybody else in the room. I sighed and tried the whole concentration thing. I asked the flames to leave for now, but I only got an answer that they couldn't. _Why not?_ I wasn't really patient right now _Because we belong to your body, we're always there_ the whispering voices replied_ then go back to where you were before_. Now it worked. I felt the flames turning inwards and I felt how my old body returned. It was like stepping out of bed in the morning. Leaving the comfortable into the cold. Bella also seemed to have figured out how to change back and she was already turned. Her clothes were still there, so I guess there wasn't anything to worry about. I felt the last flame vanishing. I looked up, only to find everybody staring at me with their mouths wide open. Then Rosalie and Alice clapped their hands over Jasper and Emmett's eyes. Edward looked like he was waking from a daze and reluctantly turned around, while Carlisle coughed slightly and turned. Dylan was most definitely staring at me and Laurent's eyes were also wandering up and down my body. I noticed all this in the same second that I noticed that I was unusual cold. I looked down on myself and gasped in shock. My clothes were not there. I was standing in the middle of a room full with more or less stranger, NAKED! Plus there were two guys checking me out, although they seemed to gain the decency to turn now as well, after Bella cleared her throat. I quickly burst into flames again.

"This is so not happening.", I whined.

"Don't worry darling. We'll figure something out.", Rosalie soothed me, while she and Alice started to push the boys out.

"You know, I could get something to wear for you or I could even beam you back to your room.", Dylan offered.

"That's great idea, Dylan.", Carlisle said. Rosalie and Alice stopped the pushing and looked at me in question.

"Do I have any other choices?", I asked. Everybody shook their heads. I sighed."I guess you'd have to beam me back, because you wouldn't find my stuff and it's kind of creepy to think of you rummaging through my underwear." Jasper and Emmett snickered at that.

"Sure. No problem. You just have to lose the fire. I can't touch you like this and I need close body contact if I want to beam a person.", Dylan said. In his eyes was something I couldn't place.

"What? No way. Do you think I let you hug me again? Now that I'm naked?", I screeched.

"Well, you have to get out of this situation some way."

"Do you realize, that this situation is your fault in the first place?"

"What are blaming me for burning your clothes?"

"No I blame you for making me burn up in the first place."

"Well, blame me all you want but this won't help you right now. You can either take my offer or run naked over the campus, because nobody knows how long you can keep those flames up." As if to prove him right, my flames started to flicker.

"Okay, everybody, except Dylan out.", Rosalie instructed and pushed again. I sighed in defeat and Bella smiled sympathetically at me.

"So...", Alice said, after the boys (and men) were all outside."Dylan turn around. You're going to take Chris on your back.", Alice instructed.

"You are all acting as if I haven't seen a naked woman before.", he said rolling his eyes.

"What, now I'm a woman?", I asked disbelievingly. Dylan looked at me with a very strange expression, but turned his attention to Rosalie when she spoke.

"We know, that you have watched plenty of porn Dylan and considering the fact that you already undressed your fair share of girls in this school, there's no doubt that you haven't a naked Woman, but there are some women in the world, who have something called dignity and those women don't want to be looked at by you when they are naked. You'd have to work hard to earn this privilege, so would you please turn around?"

Dylan's expression was still completely strange to me and he mumbled something about 'already seen her naked' which would have made me blush in my normal body. He turned anyway and not a second to late, because the flames suddenly just went away. My body was worn out so apparently I couldn't keep it up any longer.

"Climb on his back real fast, otherwise you'll pass out on the floor.", Bella said, sensing my exhaustion. I nodded quietly and walked toward Dylan. I gently tapped on his shoulder and he instinctively turned his head to look at me. I was about to scream and hide myself, when he turned back mumbling an apology and then crouching down to let me climb on his back. I slung my arms around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. He put his hands on my thighs and I shivered. I doubted that this was because I was cold. He pulled me a bit closer and hopped real quick to make sure I was secure.

"You ready?" I nodded against his back

"See you in a few, Chris.", Alice said and the I was gone. I don't know where we were, it was kind of black, but also bright with every other color. I couldn't figure this place was here that made me alert, but then it was already gone and we were standing in my room. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to.", Dylan commented. I quickly climbed down from his back and headed for one of my suitcases. I pulled out some panties and a bra as quick as fast as I could. "You know white looks really good on you.", I heard Dylan say. I slowly turned. He was lying across my bed, looking in my direction.

"What are you doing?", I asked

"Resting and watching you."

"You really are a pervert."

"No I'm not, I just happened to look your way, when you finished putting your underwear on."

"Why can't you just go out?"

"Do you want the whole school to be assuming things? If I walked out of your room right now..."

"Okay, okay I get it. You don't want to be seen, walking out of a little girls room."

"Well, I was going to say 'some chick', but's all the same in the end"

"Could you at least, please not watch me right now?"

"Why? I already saw you naked and you're standing in underwear in front of me. It's better I watch you getting dressed, rather than undressing." I just sighed. I seem to be sighing a lot today. I continued to look for something to wear and quickly pulled out a pair of leggings and a striped long-shirt with a big black belt that I put on right underneath my chest. I quickly checked my reflection in the mirror and was satisfied.

"You know. You're kinda beautiful." I turned

"What?"

"Oh come on, you heard me. I said you were kinda beautiful."

"Did you hit your head or something?", I asked confused.

"Nah, I'm good. As a matter of fact, you don't look like a kid at all, but I think you already knew that."

"Well...um thanks?" What's up with this guy? One minute he's a total asshole and the next he's actually being nice? "Err, by the way...sorry for almost burning you earlier.", I added. Just now I realized that he was the one who let out the scream.

Dylan just shrugged. "It was nothin' " I wanted to remark that, but right then I heard a knock on my door.

"You guys, I have key.", I heard Bella complain, when I walked toward the door.

"Bella we don't have time to wait until you find you key. We have to get in there straight away.", Alice said and before I even reached the door it busted open.

OMG, I can't believe they just let Emmett break the door open! Is now everybody out of his mind?

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**Do you love, like, hate? Let me know...**


	5. Time for Class!

_**A/N:**_** I updated as fast as I could*breathing heavily* I hope I didn't keep you waiting to long. Special thanks to everyone who reviewed(if you didn't review you should feel guilty now) and even more special thanks to my critical reader ( it's an insider!) for being a critical reader, I really appreciate that. So I just wrote through t****he whole night because of you guys and I don't even remember everything that I wrote...Well I hope you like it anyway and if it's too crappy just let me know, I 'll get some sleep now so hopefully I will be able to fix things when I'm awake.**

_**Disclaimer**_**: Why even bother? I'm tired-.-**

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_"Bella's PoV_

As soon as Chris and Dylan vanished, Alice smile did too. "Come on hurry.", she yelled and dragged me out of the room.

"What's wrong?" Did I miss something?

"Dylan is alone with YOUR twin sister and she's naked. Not a good combination.", Alice said while she opened the door. Jasper, Emmett and Edward were waiting in front of the door, looking rather bored. I could never get tired of looking at Edward. Well, of course I didn't know him so well and I also didn't talk much to him, but I kinda liked him anyway. Edward was looking straight at me, when Alice opened the door.

"Emmett, we need you. We have to rescue Chris.", Alice instructed.

"Why? What happened?", Emmett asked in confusion.

Edward just sighed and shook his head. "Alice, are you guys not a little over-reacting? You could give him a little credit."

"Just because you are more of a gentleman, doesn't mean that your brother is. He's a womanizing pig and it's not good to leave him alone with an under aged girl.", Rosalie argued. "Am I not supposed to be a Womanizer as well?", Edward asked mockingly. I frowned at that. So this angelic gift from god, was in reality a beautiful sin from hell? For some reason this information made my heart ache just a little.

"Edward, you are not as bad as your brother and you actually have manners, plus you are just a heart-breaker not a womanizer." Rosalie sounded as if she had done serious studies on this subject.

"Is there even a difference?", Jasper asked, sounding bored.

"Yes, there is. Womanizers jump a pretty girl anytime there's an opportunity for them to do so, which is why we have to rescue Chris.", Alice explained and started to drag me and now also Jasper outside. "Alice, are you not over-reacting? I mean even if he's a womanizer, he's not a rapist. So as long as Chris hates him, he doesn't even get a chance to do anything.", I reasoned.

Jasper cleared his throat and commented."Actually, she doesn't hate him and he doesn't hate her. They have a slight attraction towards each other, even though they don't actually seem to realize that." Oh great, so my sister is crushing on a player. That's just perfect.

"See? We really have to hurry. Maybe you should go already, Edward.", Rosalie piped in. Edward smiled a croocked grin at her and shook his head. The smile nearly caused me to cry. It was just so beautiful. How on earth could a guy be so beautiful? He was perfect in every way and I was...well not. For the nth time today, his beautiful emerald green eyes met mine and there was something in his expression that was totally unfamiliar to me. There was a smile playing around his lips and I would have loved to really see that smile, but Alice finally managed to drag me along.

"Come on, hurry. If we don't he will steal your sister's virginity.", Alice urged.

"I'm not so sure about that.", I mumbled. Luckily nobody seemed to have heard me, otherwise I would be killed by Chris later on, since she claimed that she was still half a virgin. However that worked, I never asked, because honestly I just didn't want to know at the time. But maybe I should ask her later on about that.

The whole walk back to our house was rather ridiculous. Alice, Rosalie and Emmett were walking all warrior-like in front and I swear they were stomping, while Jasper, Edward and I trailed behind shaking our heads at the others. I got a thrill out of walking next to Edward and of course this didn't get unnoticed by Jasper, because he was smiling knowingly at me. I blushed as soon as I caught his gaze and when I remembered that Edward was able to read minds I blushed even more.

"Don't worry, most of the time he doesn't read our minds, at least that's what he tells us.", Jasper whispered in my ear with a small chuckle. I scowled at Jasper then, which only amused him more, when Edward asked what was wrong both of us mumbled a quick nothing. Even though I sounded embarrassed and Jasper much too amused. Edward just looked at me, then he frowned and shifted his gaze to Jasper only to frown even more. After 5 min. of now unpleasant silence, we finally arrived at the Red house and Alice, Rosalie and Emmett just stomped toward my room. Alice and Rosalie laid their ears on the door.

"Oh my God. He's already starting to make his move.", I heard Rosalie whisper. We weren't even that close to them yet, but I heard her "whisper" anyway.

"We've got no time to loose.", Alice said and knocked on the door.

Now we finally caught up to them. "You guys, I have a key.", I complained. If Chris really started to like Dylan, than it would be just a little rude to disturb them like this, right. Plus if they were really going at it, I doubt that they would open the door when Alice knocks. Alice seemed to realize this too and while she was telling me something about having no time to wait for me, she made a gesture in Emmett's direction. He just grinned like a kid on Christmas day and slammed himself against the door. Everyone, who was on the corridor stopped whatever they were doing to stare at Emmett. The scene that was revealed behind the door, was not special at all. It seemed like Chris had been about to open the door and lucky her, that she hadn't been close enough yet, to be smashed by the door. She looked like she was about to go into shock, while Dylan sat up in her bed and pulled a grimace.

"See, I told you you were overreacting. Bella you should calm your sister down, she's about to explode.", Edward's voice was gentle and he pushed me slightly in Chris' direction. I felt that strange electrical jolt go through me again and seeing Chris jump, so did she. Her shocked expression changed into one of annoyance and she gave me and Edward an accusing look. _You guys have to stop doing that!_, I heard her voice ring in my head once again.

"I could say the same thing to you.", I answered dryly.

"Whatever. If that annoying feeling is you trying to read my mind, then get out.", Chris spat at Edward. The sound that followed was musical and sounded like an angels choir. It was Edward's laugh. "I'm not trying. I actually can read it for once. You're to worn out to keep the barrier up. But of course, I'll leave your mind alone.", Edward answered and then he turned to the people, who caused this chaos in my room. Alice was hiding behind Jasper, Rosalie was looking at her nails like nothing happened and Emmett was trying to sneak away.

"What on earth, where you thinking? Is waiting for me to open the door so hard?", Chris started yelling right away. I thought she was about to go into shock, oh well...

"We're sorry.", Alice mumbled. "We were just so worried, you know. And we wanted to make sure that you were okay, because it could have been that Dylan took advantage of you. And I could never live with myself if I hadn't been there to prevent this from happening." Alice was rushing these words.

"I...what? What's wrong with you people?"

"You really thought so low of me? You broke my heart.", Dylan commented mockingly.

"I didn't really, I just thought it would be fun to storm in here.", Emmett answered. I groaned and rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, Dylan but you know that I always think the worst of you.", Rosalie said unapologetic. And here I thought that she was a nice person.

"I'm sorry Dylan, but you are a pig at times and Chris is one of my best friends." Alice sounded like she was about to cry.

"Err... Alice? We've only known each other for a day." Chris didn't even look at her while she said this, she was staring at the door that was now lying in the middle of our room. "Yes, I know but you and Bella are so cute and nice, so you'll make perfect friends. Plus, I'm a psychic I just know such things."

"Oooh I forgot. Alice I want to ask you something. When will I meet my true love?", I interfered. Chris looked at me like I had lost my mind and everyone else started snickering. Alice took it serious though and closed her eyes in concentration and then she smiled in excitement. "You already met him, but it will take sometime until you actually admit your feeling to yourself and then it takes even more time before you actually end up together. But it's going to be wonderful and I'm excited already."

"Is he going to this school?", I asked disbelievingly. Alice nodded.

"Oh wow, that's just great, but I don't care right now. How are we supposed to sleep in this room, when there's no door. Do you think I will actually go to bed in this room.", Chris cried. I hadn't even thought about that. Alice smile widened, before Chris even finished talking.

"You know, it's good that you mention this. Dad will call in a minute and will tell me that Laurent has been able to rate your gifts after you used them. So you will change houses today."

"We're getting black scarfs?", Chris and I asked in disbelief. Alice held her finger up and answered her phone.

"Hey daddy. Yes I know. Oh right, Rose and I will do that right away. What? But I thought...So there's still the possibility? I'll tell them right away. You can send someone to get their things, their door is already open. Bye."

"And?", I asked impatiently.

"You won't get black scarfs yet." I let out the breath that I had been holding.

"Why not?", Edward asked, with a cute look of confusion on his face.

"Well, Laurent apparently rated them as black scarf material, but he also said that there are some parts of the gift still missing and there's also the fact that all black scarfs not only have unique gifts, but they are also able to control and handle it perfectly. And you have to get good grades, so they can't be in our house until, school started."

"What do you mean, by there's still something missing?", Dylan asked curiously.

"Apparently, what we have seen today is not all they can do, but Laurent can't sense those abilities. It seems like he can only sense them once they used them. These twins are a rather rare case, but we didn't expect anything else."

"We have more powers to handle?" Chris didn't sound excited at all. "I can barely handle the ones we have now."

"Oh yeah about that, Dad told me to tell you that you should work on your gift. Laurent said that you should be able to change the state fo your clothes just like Bella, but Bella has a bit more control over what she does than you." I giggled at that and Chris just scowled in my direction.

"Whatever. If we are not black scarfs, what are we?"

"You're now officially, blue scarfs. You'll have your own rooms and there are more bathrooms, so it will not be as crowded as it is here. You'll also get more money, which means we can go shopping.", Alice was by far more excited than me and Chris.

"We get our own rooms?", Chris asked quietly. Alice just bobbed her head.

"I've never had my own room. I'm always in the same room as Bella.", Chris started to whine. She was right, we weren't separated often, usually neither of us minded to do her own thing, but in the end of the day we always saw each other again. "Don't worry, about that. Carlisle said that you'll be next to each other. And he also said that Rosie and I should take you to the tailor, to get your uniforms. I guess Chris will need the special fabric that all Pyros on campus wear."

"Does it look different?"

"No, it doesn't."

"So, since there's nothing interesting going to happen here, I guess I'll just go.", Dylan said and got up from the bed.

"Yeah girls, see ya.", Emmett went with Dylan as well and Edward couldn't even say anything, because Emmett just dragged him along. Jasper quickly pecked Alice and left as well.

"Great! The rest of the day belongs just to us girls. We could go shopping for something to wear tomorrow.", Rosalie was just as bad as Alice.

"I thought we have to wear a uniform?", I questioned but followed anyway.

"Yes, but there are no shoes to the uniform, the school only made it a rule to wear black shoes, but they don't care what they look like and we can also buy a purse for you guys. A big one were you can put your school things in."

"I already have about a million purses.",Chris commented.

"Then you'll have even more.", Alice cheered.

The tailor was unfriendly woman, who seemed to enjoy hurting people. She was very fast though and so we had our uniforms 1 hour later. I guess some people had very handy gifts.

Going shoe shopping with Alice, Rosalie and my sister was one of the experience in life I didn't need. As soon as they entered the shop, they were all over the place, screaming when they found something. At some point they decided that they had enough shoes for themselves and started chucking hundreds of shoes in my direction. I had to dodge most of them, otherwise I would be badly injured by now. When the sales woman saw the pile of shoes in front of me, she was ecstatic and thought I wanted to buy all of them. She helped me trying each of them on, while the others stood behind hear and shared their opinions. In the end I only bought two pairs of shoes.

A pair of black flats, with cute little bows on the front and a pair of black ankle boots with a heel that wasn't as awful as some of the others in there.

"Aren't you excited about your first day of school tomorrow?", Alice asked, skipping happily. I just shrugged. In reality, I hadn't thought about it otherwise I would just get nervous. "Are you at least excited about your new room?"

I shrugged again. Alice had managed to exhaust me and Chris looked like she might pass out any minute. She had been worn out already, earlier today and I don't even know where she had gotten the energy from to make it through the rest of the day. It was starting to get dark outside, but it was only eight o'clock. The plaza in front of the houses looked very nice at night. There was not so much light, but enough to illuminate the place and make a somewhat romantic atmosphere.

The boys were sitting at the fountain again and they looked like they enjoyed themselves. They laughed at some joke and they looked like a scene out of a movie. Edward's eyes were shining brightly as he laughed and he ran his hand through his hair. He was looked more unrealistic than the others.

"Jasper!", Alice squealed and ran right into Jasper's arms. Rosalie was more controlled and simply sat down next to Emmett, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad to see that the two of you are still alive.", Emmett joked.

"I am too." I grinned at Emmett, who grinned back. I liked Emmett a lot. He had an easy-going nature and was kind of funny. He was like a big teddy-bear and looked like he could never hurt anyone. I sat down next to Edward and I was like before highly aware of his presence. It was like there was some kind of electric energy flowing around him. Edward shifted a little and I wondered if he felt it too. Much to everyone's surprise Chris sat down, next to Dylan. She didn't think too much about it though, so I guess they had called a truce if she was actually acting normal toward him. "So are you excited about class?", Edward's musical voice next to me asked. Both Chris and I shrugged. "It's just school I guess.", Chris said.

"What happened to the earlier insecurities?", Dylan wondered.

"Trying not to think about it.", I answered.

"Well, in a way it's not much different than other school, I guess." Edward stated."You'll have all the same classes as before there not many subjects that will be new. And I heard that you two are pretty brilliant students."

"How brilliant is 'pretty brilliant' ?", Emmett asked.

"Straight A's in every subject since elementary.", I answered with a sigh.

"Seriously? You're smarter than Edward, then.", Emmett's voice boomed. I looked at Edward, who gave Emmett an annoyed look. But then turned to me

"So it actually shouldn't be hard for you to become black scarfs, right?" He smiled brightly at me as he said that.

"U-umm, yes s-sure.", I stuttered momentarily stunned by his smile.

"Yeah let's just ignore the fact, that have to gain control of our powers as well.", Chris mumbled.

"Well, Bella seems to be on the best way to controlling it. You just have to work on your temper.", Edward said. I giggled at that, which earned me a curious glance from Edward. Chris was never going to control her temper, she had a forceful nature and was the complete opposite of me. She was definitely not capable of being calm.

Chris scowled at me, probably hearing me thoughts. I just smiled at her in innocence.

"Don't worry about it Chris, you are on the best way too. You feel the magic and that's the best way to learn.", Jasper said. Chris didn't look as if she was convinced, but didn't say anything. "Shall we take you to your new rooms?", Alice asked excitedly. I started to wonder where she got all the energy from. "Sure.", Chris and I said lamely. Alice jumped up and pulled us along. "Night guys.", I managed to shout over my shoulder before we vanished inside the house. "Night.", they answered like a choir.

We got inside the blue house and it was so much bigger than the red house. It was very beautiful. The entrance hall was big and decorated with paintings and plants. In front of us was a stair case similar to the one in the black house and it lead to an elevator as pressed the 3 and we all stood silently in the elevator. The doors finally opened and we jumped out. the corridor in front of us wasn't as narrow as the one in the red house, it was much wider and there were a lot more bathrooms. I counted six. Three for the guys and three for the girls. The doors to the rooms were all white and had golden door knobs. Alice pulled us to the room the had the number 317 written on it in golden. She opened the door and inside was a beautiful and bid bedroom, it was all in blue and white. The south wall was a whole giant french window, which had long blue and white curtains. In the middle of the room was a big bed that was covered in blue and white sheets. On the right side was a little seating area with a white couch and two blue loveseats. In the middle of that was a little glass table. On the left side was a big wardrobe, with a body length mirror and right beside the door was a little white the other side of the door was a pretty white desk. "Do all of the rooms look like this?", I asked.

Alice shook her head."Some rooms are similar or even the same, but they mostly look different. The guys, don't have a dresser for example. Alos a lot of students rearrange their rooms. Carlisle chose this room for you by the way. He thought that you would like it." I nodded. I looked around once more and noticed that my suitcases were already there. "Okay let's look at Chris' room.", I said. Her room was right beside mine. 318. Alice opened the door as well and it looked exactly the same as mine only in red and white. Smehow I thought the room was perfect for Chris. "Do you like it?", Alice asked. Chris nodded and turned to face her. "You know, Alice I really think that we are going to be good friends. I already think of you as a sister.", she said and hugged Alice tightly.I eyes her in suspicion. She wasn't exactly lying, but she wasn't exactly honest hugged me as well. "I love you.", she whispered and then added a 'good night' for Alice to hear as well. And with that she vanished in her room. Alice smiled like a kid that just got candy, probably not getting that Chris only wanted to get rid of her so she could go and sleep.

"Well, Bella. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. Rose and Jasper will come with me."

"What about Emmett?", I asked.

"Oh didn't he tell you? Emmett isn't a sophomore like us. He's a junior." So that goofy teddy-bear was actually older than me.

"Good night, Bella.", Alice hugged me tightly.

"Night, Alice.", I managed to gasp out. How could someone so tiny be so strong? Alice danced toward the elevator and turned once more to wave. I stepped into my room and took everything in. The room was really nice. It made me feel more at home. I don't know why, but the color blue always had a calming effect on me. I quickly undressed and jumped into my new comfy bed. We upgraded in just one day. Chris had said that we'll upgrade fast, but I hadn't thought it would be this fast. I thought about everything today. Many things had happened. I had finally used magic and it really felt just as natural as breathing. I thought that it would be like some gigantic firework going off in my head, but I just felt happy and free. I remembered the way, the water whispered to me. The sound was calm and melodic. At first I thought I was crazy, but Chris said she could hear her flames as well, so I guess it was normal. And then there was the bond. Right now I didn't feel anything and that unsettled me a little. I always had Chris around at night and her absence, kind of made me feel lonely. While I thought about Chris, I felt that bond. Not the usual emotion that vanished a second later, but a real connection. Chris seemed to be asleep already, because she was feeling peaceful and calm. Knowing that set me at ease. With Chris' emotions humming through the bond, I fell asleep quickly.

"I love you Bella with all of my heart, I thought I already told you that.", Edward said, kneeling in front of me.

"Of course you did. But it's hard to believe that you could ever love an ordinary girl like me.", I answered facing away from him.

He gently turned my face back to him, looking me deeply in the eyes."Bella, you are not an ordinary girl. Your the heaven on earth to me."

"Oh Edward.", I sighed and leaned in to kiss him.

"Oh Bella.", Chris answered. Wait, what...Chris? I opened my eyes slowly and saw Chris face right above mine."Time to get up, sleeping beauty." She smiled brightly at me and got up to open my curtains. The sunlight was blinding and I quickly shut my eyes.

"I though Forks was supposed to be cloudy and rainy.", I groaned.

"Well, it's not today. It's beautiful outside and look what I have here. Some kid dropped them off here." She waved a piece of blue fabric in my face.

"What's that?", I asked and grabbed it.

"It's the blue scarf. Nice isn't it. I think I never had anything made up of silk.", she said. She was right, the scarf was nice. It had a beautiful shade of blue. I think it was called royal blue or something like that and was made of soft silk.

"Well, come one. Bells. We have to get ready and I wanna eat breakfast."

Half an hour later we were walking into the dinning area. We wore our cute uniforms and both of us had put the scarfs in our hair. Chris had used it to push her hair back and I had wrapped it around my bun.

The dinning area here was much different than the one in the red house. It didn't look so much like a cafeteria, it had a more sophisticated atmosphere. There was a buffet with several things to choose from and Chris went straight toward it. She didn't seem to be aware of the whole finger-pointing-and-whispering show. I started to wonder when this would end. I got myself a bowl of cereals and followed Chris. She was headed for the table close in the corner right beside the window..I sat down opposite of her and took out one of the school books, that had been dropped of in front of my room after I came back from the bathroom. It was a spellbook. It's title was: Modern spells and magical helps. It sounded interesting, so I looked through it while eating. I found an interesting spell about turning water into wine, when three guys appeared at our table.

"No offense, but this is were we usually sit.", one of the guys said. I looked at Chris, who reluctantly looked at the guys.

"Well, then sit down.", she simply answered. The three of them looked at each other until one of them shrugged and they actually sat down.

"So you're Isabella and Christabel Swan.", another one of the guys asked.

"Bella and Chris.", I corrected.

"So which one is which?"

"I'm you are?"

"I'm Dean. This Damon and that's Dario." The boy introduced them. All of them had dark hair, only Damon's was a bit longer. And all of them were rather good looking. Nothing compared to Edward though. Ugh, I had to stop thinking like that.

"So how did you get in here so fast?", Damon asked. He had ice blue eyes that seemed to see through everything.

"What do you mean?", Chris asked.

"Well, the whole school talks about you and last thing we heard was that one of you was walking naked through the corridors of the red house and then you sit here eating breakfast in the blue house.", Damon explained looking back and forth between me and Chris. Walking naked through the corridors?

"I wasn't naked, I wrapped in a towel.", Chris answered defensively.

"So it was you, huh? Would have loved to see that." Dario and Dean snickered at that. "Anyway, I still want to know. How did you do it? There's not really something going on between you guys and Carlisle right? That's just ridiculous."

"What? Where did you get that from?", I asked bewildered.

"Some of the girls have been making that up, because he drove you to school. Then you hang out with his kids and next thing we know, you get upgraded before classes even started."

"So you assume that there's something going on between us and a teacher?", I almost screeched.

"No, that's not what we think. That's what some of the girls are saying, who have a crush on Mr. Cullen.", Dario answered calmly and chewed on his sandwich. He was a bit bulkier than the other two and his eyes matched his hair.

"We took a specialisation class with Laurent and Carlise yesterday. And after that they upgraded us."

"So what are you abilities?", Dean asked. His eyes were brown and a little redish.

"Good question. Before the class they said I was a fire manipulator, but Bella's power is similar to mine and they said that she's not a water manipulator, so I guess we still don't know."

"Well, I'm a Pyro.", Dean said and pulled out a lighter.

"Pyro?", I asked confused.

"Yeah, all of the witches who have gifts that connect with fire, call themselves Pyros."

"Isn't Pyro a character from X-Men.", Chris asked in a bored tone.

"You know X-Men?", Dario asked.

"Of course. I watched the movies and the cartoon. I always wanted to be a mutant when I was little. Yeah yeah, be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it."

Dean lightend his lighter and somehow took the flame in his hand. It didn't really touch him, so it wasn't as impressive as Chris. She smiled a little at the sight and then turned to Damon. "What class are you in?"

"We're sophomores, just like you."

"Cool." She smiled at Damon and I rolled my eyes at her. She was such a flirt. I looked out of the window and saw Alice, Rosalia and Jasper walking toward our house.

"Well, I guess we'll see you in class then.", I said and got up. Chris looked at me in confusion. _Alice is here_, I told her through our bond. She flinched slightly when I did that. I was starting to get a hang on this. Chris followed me quickly and we met Alice right outside the door. She threw herself at us and then scanned us quickly. "You look perfect, I'm so glad we went shopping for shoes yesterday. They look gorgeous.", she gushed.

"Good Morning to you to Alice. Good morning Jasper and Rosalie.", I said overly friendly. They greeted us as well and we started to walk to school. Several students were already on their way. I saw Edward walking several feet in front of us with a boy on his side. Dylan was also somewhere in front of us in a crowd of girls.

"Yo guys, wait up.", I heard a voice boom. I turned and of course it was Emmett.

"Morning big M.", Chris chuckled. Emmett grinned at her.

"Are excited, now?", he asked in his loud voice.

"Maybe a little nervous.", I admitted. I tried to remain as calm as possible, but I still had this stupid tingling in my stomach that I always got when I was nervous.

"Don't worry, Rosie, Jazz and Al will wake care of you.", he laughed and kissed Rosalie quickly before he took off to join a group of boys. They were all kind of similar built to Emmett but none of them was as big as he was. "He's such a goof.", Rosalie chuckled and all of us agreed.

We arrived at school and Alice led us to our classroom. It was a regular classroom, so there wouldn't much to describe. Carlisle, or rather Mr. Cullen was already in the class, assigning seats.

"Ah Bella and Chris, you will be sitting over there, next to Rose.", he said as soon as he spotted us. We sat in the middle row more or less in the middle of the room. Chris sat on my right and Rosalie to my left. I looked at the front and saw that Car- Mr. Cullen was still busily assigning the seats. There were so many students crowded around him tat I started to wonder where all of them were supposed to sit. Jasper and Alice sat in front of us and next to Alice was Angela. I remembered her and greeted her. She smiled and started an easy conversation. Chris didn't take part,she started chatting with Rosalie. About 15 minutes later, Carlisle seemed to have seated everyone and all the people that came to him to complain had been send back to their places. I only now noticed that the three boys from this morning sat behind us. Dean gave me a s tight smile and I smiled back quickly and turned back around.

"Well, I'm glad that all of you made it back in one piece.", Mr. Cullen said. "As you might have noticed, this is your first day of your sophomore year and I expect you to work harde than you did last year. Last year was not so great." Some students chuckled.

"So, you might have noticed it, but I'm pointing it out anyway. We have two new students attending and I expect that you will make them feel welcomed." Everyone turned to look at us , thanks a lot! "Okay people, attention back to me. I have your new schedule for you and as you know as sophomores you are now allowed to leave the school building during lunch..", A couple of people cheered at was one of them. Carlisle gave out the schedules. We didn't choose our classes for ourselves. Apparently there was one schedule for all of us. The only classes we could choose, were the languages.

Monday:

1) Calculus- Mr. Groffmann

2)Physics- Mr. Streicher

3)Magical Art- Mr. Cullen

4) History- Mrs. Alto

~Lunch~

5) Specialized Magic-Mr. Decour

6) Chosen Language 1

7) P.E.- Mr. Stan

Tuesday:

1) History

2)Mythical animal behaviour- Mrs. Cullen

3) Potions- Ms. Sander

4)Specialized magic

~Lunch~

5)Biology- Mr. Banner

6) Chosen Language 2

Wednesday:

1)Magical Art

2) Calculus

3) Mythical animal behaviour

4)Chosen Language 3

~Lunch~

5) Specialized Magic

6) English

7) English- Mrs. Cope

8) Chemistry- Mr. Banner

Thursday:

1) Calculus

2) English

r 3) History

4) Potions

~Lunch~

5) Biology

6) Chemistery

7) Magical Art

Friday:

1) Biology

2)Potions

3)Physics

4) Physics

~Lunch~

5) Mythical animal behaviour

6)Chemistry

7) P.E

"As you may have noticed,t his is very different than your previous schedules. From today on we will start working more on your magical skills. That's what the Magical Art is for. We are going to work on spells and mental magic and I wish, that all of you have a wand next time. Specialized Magic is basically a sequel to specialization class. Now that you can keep you powers in check, you will have to learn how to work with them on different levels and expand them as much as possible. Potions is going to be a bit harder for you, because you never worked with magic on that level. I hope that you are aware of the fact that it's not just mixing a few ingredients. Making a potion is one of the hardest tasks in magic, do not take this lightly Ms. Sander wouldn't be too pleased about it. Mythical animal behaviour is the same as always, but this year you're not only discussing the harmless mythical creatures,but also the dangerous ones.", Mr. Cullen started to explain. "Biology and History have change a little now for you as well, you will have to learn about both worlds. Human and magical, so you'll have to learn more than before. The rest will be explained to you by your teachers, so if you have any questions about the subjects, you should ask them." The bell rang. "Alright I'll see you tomorrow, have a nice day." Mr. Cullen left the room and it was soon filled with hundreds of conversations.

"What exactly is mysthical animal behaviour?", I asked Alice.

"Oh it's a pretty fun subject. You'll like it. It's about mythical animals and their behaviour. Well a little more than that actually, in a way you could call it magical biology." I just nodded at her answer. "Do we have to choose three languages?", Chris asked.

"No we don't. We only have to choose one the other two are optional.", I answered taking out my notebook for calculous.

"You're such a nerd, Bella.", Chris commented.

"I know. What would you do without me."

"Trust me you don't wanna know." Chris gave me a small peck. And then she turned around to chat with Damon and his friends. Meanwhile Rosalie was telling me a little about our teachers. Apparently the only 'good teachers' were Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, Ms. Sander Mr. Groffmann and occasionally Mr. Decour. In that moment Mr. Groffmann entered the was a rather young teacher with short blond hair and a pleasant smile. He introduced himself to me and Chris quickly and then started his lesson right away. I was taking noted the whole time and I kind of enjoyed to be back in school. I was good and I missed teh atmosphere. I know it might be a bit strange, but if you're good at something you like to do so I liked school work simply because I was good at it. Even Chris enjoyed it a little, even though she would never admit it. The lesson was over quickly and we had mythical animal behaviour next. Mrs. Cullen entered the room and she looked around with a friendly smile. She was very beautiful. She had a heart shaped face and caramel colored hair. She looked rather young, but somehow she had a motherly glow around her or something like that. She welcomed Chris and me in the school and started teaching. I liked her a lot, she really fit well to Mr. Cullen both of them were so genuine and beautiful. The lesson was about Unicorns. Most of the class groaned. Rosalie explained that they always discussed unicorns on the firs day. Even if the others didn't want to hear about it, I was busily taking notes absorbing everything that was said. Chris sat up straighter as well and scribbled as madly in her notebook as I did.

At the end of the lesson I read again what I wrote.

_Unicorn (rom Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn') is a mythological creature described as having a long, straight horn extending from its forehead. Though the modern popular image of the unicorn is sometimes that of a horse differing only in the horn, the original unicorn also has a billy-goat beard, a lion's tail, and cloven hooves—these distinguish it from a horse._

_It is an endagered species and no one has seen a living unicorn for thousands of years. It is said that the horn of a unicorn enables it to fight it's enemies, heals and even brings back the dead. A broke Horn needs at least ten years to regrow. _

_Other abilities of an unicorn: The tears of an unicorn are able to bring back the dead as well and they free from petrification. Drinking the blood of an unicorn, will make a person immortal, but the person will live a cursed life._

_Unicorns live mostly in forests, which they protect. It is said that the plants and animals in an unicorn forest are bigger and healthier. _

_The birth of an unicorn is a very rare phenomenon. The young unicorn will be very small and doesn't have a horn yet. It takes 3 to 10 years for a unicorn to fully mature and as soon asit is grown up it leaves it's mother to search for it's own forrest._

So far I was actually content, I would have thought that school would be much harder, but it was much more comfortable than usually, since we didn't have to change classrooms all the time. Well, at least until now. Mr. Cullen came in and wrote on the board what language would be taught in what room. Chris and I had decided to take French and so we got to stay in this classroom. Most people in this class chose french and only a few gathered their things and headed out. French was being taught by Mr. Decour. Of course! Why wouldn't he teach this subject? He spoke beautifully and it looked like every girl was looking at him in a dreamy way. Even Chris, or at least I thought, but when Mr. Decour called her out she answered right away, so I guess that she was just paying attention...

After French we had our lunchbreak. Rose led us outside the school to a little shop nearby. Dylan, Edward and Emmett were already there

"So, how does it feel to be finally able to join us out here?", Emmett teased. Alice just made a grimace at him. Jasper hit him on the head right after Rosalie Emmett was sulking like a little kid. "So how was class so far?", Edward asked me.

"Perfect. I thought it was going to be hard, but.."

"Oh just wait for specialized magic,you'll have enough trouble there and potions is also a very dangerous subject.", Dylan warned me. I laughed a little and rolled my eyes at him. A waitress came to take our orders and so we ordered quickly. Ten minutes later, we were all busily eating.

"You know what? It hink after school we should all go and play baseball.", Alice suggested. I grimaced at that. I didn't like sports and I wasn't really good at them.

"Can't.", Dylan said."Gotta date."

"Yeah, I'm also busy. I promised Mason, that I would help him pick a present for Mia.", Edward announced.

"Mia? I thought they broke up last summer?", Rosalie questioned. I didn't even know about whom they were talking.

"No apparently they just went on a break during the vacations so they could fool around with other people."

"Sick people."

"No joke."

"Well, what else should we do after school?"Alice was pouting.

"How about sleeping?", Chris yawned.

"Or homework?", Jasper suggested.

"Nooo! We could go and try to talk to the mermaids.I haven't done that in years and I bet Bella and Chris wanna see the mermaids."

"Yes.", I answered excitedly. In the corner of my eyes I saw Edward smiling fondly at me.

"Are they pretty?", Chris asked. Alice nodded.

"Are they prettier than me?" At that Alice frowned and seemed to think hard.

"I'm not sure...Why?"

"I don't wanna see them if they're prettier. I don't want my self-esteem to go further down.", Chris stated.

"Don't worry, they're not prettier than you. Mermaids are not that pretty. Most girls think they are, but seriously they look too much like fish.", Dylan piped in.

Everyone looked at him in confusion. Had he really just said something nice to Chris? She didn't seem to notice though.

"Well, I guess we'll look at mermaids today. Let's get to class I didn't get a chance to annoy Laurent during French earlier.", she said and got up. Rosalie, Alice, Jasper and I quickly followed her.

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_**A/N:**_** Did you like it? I honestly didn't know how to finish this chapter and I also don't really know what should happen in Mr. Decours next class. I wanted to keep writing, but I wanted something to happen during that class, but I can't think of anything right now...maybe one of has an idea? If you do please let me know. Btw I apologize for any mistakes I made, I'm just sooo freaking tired**

**Please review, I'll even reply to every single review (yes, I don't have hobbies...) the more you review the faster I'll update (right now I'm not motivated at all to write another chapter for this story, my head hurts from this twisted plot I've been thinking of) Anyway..I'm off to bed (it's already 10:41 am) and when I wake up I wanna see lots of pretty reviews**


	6. Ollivander? No, Miracles!

**_A/N:_ Hello my dearest readers! I hope that all of you had a wonderful day, because I most certainly had! Some of you guys *sniff* followed my request and reviewed *breaks out in happy tears* ( I wish I could say all of you guys, but sadly it ain't so.) I was like totally dancing on my kitchen table ( I don't even have a kitchen table) and was singing 'World's greatest' ( that really did happen). So after I got eight hours of sleep, my roommate dragged me out of my room to go shopping ( I know sounds a bit like Alice). But even though I was highly occupied (sleeping, shopping, breathing and eating) I managed to update in less than 24 hours *moon walking through the room* And to amaze you even more, I also managed to start reading a new FF (please tell me I rock). I was asked to read it and when I did, I put my hand on my heart, looked up in the sky and said:"God, you created so many great writers, why didn't you created just as many reviewers?" Nah, I'm joking what I actually said was:"God you created so many great writers, why didn't you give everybody in the world the ability to read?"...yes, I really did that!...okay, no I didn't but I would if I would have thought of it then! Anyway to get back to the point... The story is called: If You Only Knew and was written by born2bmyself (Don't you just love the name?) So here's nice summary that the writer send me:**

**Who is the mysterious kid that Bella shows up with? She says she adopted the child; Acting as the kid's fake dad to make things less awkward, Edward tries to find out the truth too. What will happen during this new parental arrangement? All Human(note that this isn't the average "Bella is pregnant with Edward's baby and keeps it a secret from him" story! it's different!)**

**At first I was a little confused by the summary ( I get easily confused), but it sounded interesting enough and bada-bing-bada-bong.. I was enchanted (not an easy thing to do) I really recommend this story and I hope that you guy will check it out and send as many reviews as you can. Anything more I wanna say? Hmmmm... No not yet. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer:**** I've been wondering, how many people actually read the disclaimer?**

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_Bella's PoV_

"Umm, Alice? Are we not supposed to go to class.", I asked her, when she and the others walked past the school building.

"We are, specialized magic is in the elemental room.", she answered.

"And was is the elemental room?", Chris asked in an annoyed tone.

Instead of Alice, Jasper answered."It's somehow similar to a gym, but it's charmed. The hall is specially made for us to train our abilities in there. It's called elemental room, because it's not really affected by the elements. In a way it's you for instance, start a fire in there, the room's safety charm would quench it, before any damage can be done to the persons in there. It's the safest place for pushing our powers over the edge."

We came to halt in front of a rather large and white building. "How big is this room?", I asked.

"Just like any average gym. The building contains more suitable rooms for certain groups. Yesterday Carlisle already mentioned the Pyro Room. It's one of them. Then there's of course a Hydro Room. Then there is the Gym, which is also used for those with physical gifts and Psych Room, for those with mental gifts. And there is the Tech-Room, for those with technical powers. The last room is called the 'other room' because the students that are taught in there have gifts that don't have a clear classification.", Rose explained and held the front door open for us. We stood in a white hall, there was nothing special in there. Rose led us to one of the nine doors and we really stood in a Gym. It didn't look much different from one, except that there was no sport equipment. There was a collection of benches on one side and some of my classmates already sat there.

We sat down in the front row, except for Chris, she sat on the floor leaning on my legs. "You know this skirt is much too short, for me to sit comfortably. I thought school uniforms were supposed to be appropriate.", She complained.

"Since when do you complain about short skirts? You always wore them at home."

"So? I can still complain about it, if I want to." I just shook my head at her. Sometimes she just didn't make sense. Gradually, the other students shuffled in as well, I noticed that this were by far more than earlier. I was about to asked when Jasper already answered."All sophomores have this class together. It's not only our class but also our parallel classes." Right after he finished Mr. Decour entered the Room. I really don't think that the term 'Room' was adequate.

Mr. Decour looked different form earlier today. When we had him in french he had his dread locks in a ponytail and looked much like he had when he came to dinner at our place. But now, he looked more casual. His locks weren't in a pony tail and he simply wore baggy jeans and a T-shirt. The shirt clung to him like a second skin and for the first time I noticed how muscular he was. He had several tattoos on his arms which I couldn't make out.

As soon as he entered all the students started to quiet down. Mr. Decour's gaze swept the whole class, but he stopped at Chris narrowing his eyes at her.

"Ms. Swan, why are you not sitting on the bench like everybody else?", he asked calmly. Everyone moved to look at Chris. She just shrugged.

"Well, then could you please, move to sit on the bench?" Chris shook her head. I heard that some people started to whisper. Mr. Decour simply sighed and turned his attention back to the whole class. "Chris, why can't you just once behave?", I hissed at her. She turned to smile brilliantly at me, which caused me to roll my eyes at her. Some twin sister.

"Okay, as you already know this is 'specialized magic'. Last year we concentrated on learning, how to control your gifts and keep them in check. This year we are actually going to work with them. And I know that some of you already use their gifts quite well, but we want to expand you limits. At the end of High school all of you should be able, to fully use your abilities and know it's weaknesses. If you don't, you basically failed." Wow, he was kinda strict. His voice didn't hold to many emotions all I heard was authority and the way he walked up and down was a bit intimidating. At the same time, he didn't seem really scary. He was just someone a sane person wouldn't mess with. Which leads to the conclusion that my sister was insane, but I reckoned that already. Mr. Decour stopped pacing and clapped his hands. "Okay, today we'll start off simple. I call your name and you will come to the front and show us what you can do. This is not to humiliate anyone, but to get to know your powers. As many of you know, I have the ability to sense other gifts and rate them. It actually goes a bit deeper than that, I'm able to analyze the power and I can tell how much more there is for you to learn. As soon as you use it, I can tell what it is what you are doing, where you boundaries are, the current weaknesses and if there is any potential. So this exercise is for me to write down your current state, so I can tell if you make any progress or not." He then made his way to a door at the side and unlocked it. "If there's any equipment that you need, come and get it now." Several students got up and stood in line. Mr. Decour handed them whatever they needed.

I turned with a panicked expression to Alice, who sat beside me. "Chill Bella. You'll be fine. You just have to concentrate. Besides you shouldn't be worried, you're not the one who stood there naked yesterday.", Alice chuckled.

"That is not funny.", Chris snapped."Bella how did you do it?", she added in a much softer voice.

"I don't know. Maybe you just burned your clothes because it happened so quickly and you were angry."

"It doesn't matter anyway, your uniform is incombustible so there's no need to worry.", Jasper soothed her. The expression on Chris' face showed that she hadn't thought about that. "What is your power, Rose?", I asked, realizing for the first time that it never came up.

"Pheromones.", she simply stated.

Chris and I looked at her in confusion. "Pheromones?"

"Oh you'll see.", Alice giggled, while Jasper only shook his head.

"You know what? I think Bella and Chris actually have one of the coolest powers here.", Rose said a few minutes later.

"What makes you think that?", Chris asked. She was gazing at Dean, who was playing around with his lighter. Rosalie followed her gaze and grinned.

"Your gift is nothing like his, which is why it's so cool. Nobody can create fire or water in this school. All of the elemental witches are only manipulating. It's very far from what they could do hundreds of years ago. I've never seen anything like you. It's not really creating it's...", Rose seemed to be at loss of words. Hmmm, I hadn't really thought much of that. Although I knew that I was not creating water. It was more like a part of me. In a way you could say, that I am water but I'm not. It's a part of me though.

While we were talking, the students, who needed equipment settled down and Mr. Decour stood in front with a clipboard in his hand.

"Alright, I think we can start now. First up is Melanie Adams."

Melanie Adams was a tiny girl, who didn't really stand out. She hid her face behind her bangs and some people chuckled when she walked to the front. I felt sorry for her. She was probably not very comfortable with attention, which I understood just too well. She stood in front and did nothing for a few seconds. Then she started turning see through, not invisible but see through. I could still see the shape of her and her clothes didn't turn as well, but it was impressive all the same.

Laurent quickly scribbled something down and nodded at her. She turned normal again and went to sit.

"Next is Nathan Adrian." Nathan held a bottle of water and simply iced it. Mr. Decour took notes and then took the bottle. He threw it on the floor and it smashed, leaving a wet spot. So apparently Nathan's ice wasn't really that frozen.

Lots of students were called and I was amazed at their abilities. It seemed that some people had quite similar talents so it happened that we saw the same thing more than once. There were for example two more 'Ice guys' , but none of them really created strong ice. A few people were able to float and it was rather funny seeing some of them falling down. Then there were three fire manipulators. One was Dean, who was able to direct the fire with hand motions. The other guy simply set fire with his mind and also tried to control it that way. When the flame became to big, though it simply went out. I guess that was the protection charm. And the other was a girl, who took a small flame and made a small fire ball with it. Chris was watching them in amazement. There was also a water manipulator, who moved the wet spot on the floor to a the other side of the room. Then there were quite few telekinesis users, some needed a hand motion others stared at the object and some simply thought of it. There also was one mind reader and a hypnotist ( I didn't know that that was magic). Next was Alice, who skipped to the front happily. She announced the outcome of some baseball game tonight and I heard few guys groan while others cheered. And then she predicted that someone was going to sneeze and a second later there was indeed someone sneezing.

Then I recognized the strange bathroom girl that we had met two days ago. Her name was Tanya Denali and she could duplicate herself. About four other people could also do that. Then there was Lauren, who turned a little mouse into stone. Or at least she tried. The mouse was back to normal about five seconds later, simply shaking and running away. After that was Jaspers turn. He stood casually in front and concentrated on some girl in the class. She started crying suddenly and her friends started to comfort her right away. Then she was laughing hysterically, she didn't stop for a few minutes. I looked at Jasper and he seemed to be concentrating very hard. Apparently he had some trouble with calming her down again. Eventually she was quiet though and Jasper went to sit again. Rosalie got up gracefully and I saw the eyes of most of the boys following her. Rosalie stood in front and simply didn't do anything. Then after a while I looked at her and realized that she was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. She flipped her hair and it almost made my heart stop. I started to get up, just to be closer to her, when I suddenly lost that feeling. Everyone in the class had been about to jump on her and now they all looked at each other in confusion. Rosalie smiled sweetly and made a few girls faint. Yes, girls. So that were pheromones. A very dangerous weapon.

Then there was this Jessica, who could turn into other persons. There were other people who also did that and she was no good at all. She tried to turn into Mr. Decour, but all she managed was the skin color and one tattoo. I tried very hard not to laugh, meanwhile Chris laughed out loud. She wasn't the only one, but Jessica decided to glare at her. After dear Jessica Stanley it was my turn. As soon as I heard my name, I froze. "Isabella Swan.", Mr. Decour said again not looking up from his notes yet.

"Bella, don't worry. You're great. Just don't think about any person sitting here and concentrate. You can look at me if it helps.", Chris whispered to me. Mr. Decour looked up and saw Chris kneeling in front of me whispering encouraging things. The rest of the class started whispering as well, which didn't help the matter.

"Bella, would you like someone else to go before you?", Mr. Decour asked kindly. I looked around and shook my head. If I had to present myself in front of the whole class I might as well do it now. Mr. Decour was by my side in a second. "Just breath in and out and set your mind to it. I know that you can do it, so there's no need to be nervous.", he told me. I nodded and took a deep breath. I tried to remember how I did it yesterday. I knew that I had in me, but were. In my mind I tried to recount yesterdays event. _Try to listen_, I heard Chris' voice. At first I didn't get it, but then I understood. I shut all the noise out. I ignored all the annoying whispering that had gotten louder now, that I wasn't even doing anything. Every noise was gone. The I tried to listen to something inside me. At first all I heard was my heartbeat. I concentrated on that. It became louder and louder and then there was a new sound. The whisper of the water. I felt a smile tugging on my lips. The melody of the water was so beautiful that it made me smile. My ears were now filled with it's sound and I embraced it mentally. As soon as I did that, I felt how my body changed. Everything was flowing and I felt like I was loosing unnecessary chains. My senses changed. I opened my eyes and saw everything a lot clearer than normal. My hearing wasn't exactly better but different. Everyone had started talking loudly, all of them shocked at what they saw. Normally this would be very annoying and confusing to hear, but now it was only like a little noise that was drifting through the room. I was able to concentrate on other things. I heard Rosalie, Alice, Jasper and Chris talking. They were all happy that I had gained this much control already. I felt content and calm, but it was gone too soon. My old body returned just like that and the water disappeared. I wasn't too happy about that. I could still heart it and it was still there, but it was inside of me again. Maybe I could do something else. Just when I thought that, heard little waves from behind me. I turned and saw the puddle that one guy had moved earlier. It was coming toward me in small waves and eventually I stood in it. Instead of getting wet feet, I simply absorbed the water. It was a rather strange feeling. I felt it enter my body and it didn't feel like it belonged there. It wasn't like the rest, after a few moments though it calmed and I felt exactly like before only a bit fuller as if I had eaten too much or something like that. I looked at Mr. Decour asking if I could leave he nodded and called Chris. When I passed her I stroke her arm lightly to encourage her a little. But as soon as I touched her, a strange feeling went through me. It was as if my mind was being shaken. I frowned and also noticed that my hand, which I used to touch her was stinging a little. What was that?

Chris seemed to have felt the same thing, because she stood in front, looked at me in wonder and rubbed her arm. I just shrugged at her. I noticed Jasper looking back and forth between us. With this guy around, there was really no privacy.

"You did really well, Bella. I'm so proud of you.", Alice said hugging me. I smiled gratefully at he an then turned to look at what Chris was doing. She was looking at the floor and tapped her foot to some unheard beat. Was that her way of concentration? I guessed it was, because when I reached through the bond for her emotions all I felt was concentration.

Several minutes later, she was on fire. It was fascinating to watch. I heard the gasps of surprise around us and I couldn't help the smug smile on my face. Chris stood there and put her hands on her hips, looking around. I sensed a little amount of boredom. I sighed and shook my head at her. Chris turned suddenly and held her hand out. I didn't get what she was doing, but I felt that she was being reckless and then I got a glimpse in her mind. She wanted to throw flames the far wall. Why did she have to do something so stupid? A giant flame shot from her hand straight to the wall and everyone gasped in shock. The flame was so big, that Chris actually heated the room. Luckily the protection charm kicked in once again and quenched the flame, seconds later. Chris also turned back to her normal state, she smiled sweetly at Mr. Decour and went back to sit down. She didn't sit in front of me again, this time she leaned against Rosalie, who sat next to me. Rosalie ruffled her hair and told her how cool that just had been. I also congratulated her and so did Jasper and Alice. We sat through the rest of class watching people move things around creating whirlwinds, make flowers blossom, absorbing electrical energie and so on. One of the boys from breakfast, Damon, had a technical gift. He had control over computers or something. He had a laptop which he never once touched. He turned it on went to Facebook and updated his profile only to turn his laptop off again. And there was also that Dario, who crumbled a diamond in his hand. Why in the world did this school have diamonds and why did they let students destroy it?

The second part of the question was answered a little later, when a girl repaired it with her gift.

When everyone had presented his or her gift Mr. Decour talked to the whole class again."I'm really pleased with your work today and I hope you will make progress in this class. Once week we have theory class and that will be on Mondays. Also, you will take part in the Classification classes. They are three times a month and the date will always be displayed on the school's black board. For those of you who don't know. Classification classes is basically the same thing as specialized magic. The only difference is that you will work only with people from your classification group. Every gift has some kind of classification, so you will learn with people who have similar gifts to yours which can be very useful for you. As you know, this is more of a project class, which means that you will be working on something with that group and you will present it at the school events. On Monday I'll tell you exactly what your classification is and we'll learn more about it. Class dismissed." The bell rang in exact that moment. "Finally.", Rose yawned."I was almost falling asleep." Alice and Jasper nodded in agreement.

"What are you talking about? This was soo interesting and exciting.", I said.

"Nah, only you and Chris were interesting, the rest is just...the rest.", Alice replied.

Jasper added."We've already seen all of their gifts in specialization class last year and we grew up with this kind of stuff, so for us it was just plainly boring."

We made our way out of the room, but unfortunately so did everybody else. I was pushed against Chris and I already feared this strange feeling again, but this time nothing happened. Chris seemed surprised as well, but shrugged it off.

"Yo, Chris and Bella. Why didn't you tell us that you had gifts this cool.", Dean appeared behind us and put his arm around my shoulder. Damon was right beside him. I shrugged, both to answer his question and to get rid of his arm. "You know you guys are kinda cool, are you sitting with us at dinner again?", Damon asked.

"Maybe.", Chris answered with a small shrug and turned away.

"How do you know the D's already?", Rose asked curiously, when they were out of hearing range.

"The D's?", I asked not really caring.

"Oh come on, you must have noticed that all of their names start with D. They usually keep more to themselves. They're not bad or anything, but they just do their own thing."

"They are in our house and we sat at their table this morning.", Chris explained quickly.

"Damon likes you.", Jasper said. All of us looked at him.

"Who?", I asked.

"Chris and Dean kinda likes you."

"Are you always blurting other people's emotions out like that?", Chris asked and punched him lightly on the arm.

"No, not really. I just thought you might wanna know. Normally I wouldn't tell, but you would have figure it out soon enough anyway and since they are good friends of mine, they actually asked me earlier today to talk to you and make them look good." Jasper didn't even look like he cared too much.

"Isn't that something that kids do in kindergarten?", Rose snickered. Chris joined in and Jasper simply shrugged. I didn't really know what to do with this information. I didn't dislike Dean and his friends, but I also didn't care too much. Also, were Dean's eyes a bit unsettling. He would look so much better with green eyes. Oh well, we'll see how all of this turns out.

English had always been a subject that I hated. I mean, I didn't like calculus really either, but at least you had to use your brain in calculus. In English it just felt like listening to an endless speech with no real meaning. To make it worse, we had two lessons of English. I was not really paying attention, barely enough to know what she was talking about, but not what she was saying. Chemistry was not much better either. Mr. Banner started talking some crap about noble gases and I didn't really care. I already knew this stuff and it was not the least bit interesting. After what seemed like forever the bell rang and we were finally free to go. As much as I enjoyed school, I hated it at least twice as much. I felt worn out and demotivated. We walked out of the school building all of us taking a deep breath once we got outside.

"You know what? I think we should go should go shopping now.", Alice screamed, jumping up and down.

"I thought you wanted to visit mermaids?", I asked. Alice was so hyperactive, how could someone like Jasper be with her?

"Yes, but we have to buy wands too. We should do it now, most people will first go and change, so we should go now, because I want the best. After that we buy gumboots and then we visit the mermaids."

"Alice we already have gumboots.", Jasper reminded her carefully.

"Oh I know, but Bella and Chris don't. We should get them some." I sighed, hoping that this wouldn't be as awful as it had been yesterday.

"Where do we get wands?", Chris asked excitedly, almost as hyperactive as Alice.

"At Miracle's.", Alice cheered. I didn't even bother asking and simply rose an eyebrow.

"Miracle is one of the most famous Wand Shops in our world. They are all over the country and everybody knows it. A lot of people buy their wands there, but it's not the only shop. It's pretty modern, do they mostly have young customers. Every Shop has it's own Wand Master, someone who makes the wands. In the traditional Shops the Wand Master makes a Wand and sells them, at Miracle's the wand master makes the wands sends them to the Headquarters. There the wands will be send the factory and they get decorated. The wands are sorted into different categories and every catergorie has it's own designs. Then they send the wands back to the Maker and they sell them.", Rosalie explained with a bright smile on her face.

"So what you are basically telling me is that we are getting some fancy, fashion accessory wands and not the good old wood stick?"

"Yes.", Rose and Alice cheered together.

"Why don't you already have a wand?", Chris asked Jasper. He was obviously the only normal person here.

"We weren't allowed to use those. When we worked with wands it was the beginners wands that the school provided for us, but we didn't use them much. A wand is a very personal tool and it's only for experienced witches. Every wand is different even if just a little bit. So every person picks the wand that suits him and his abilities the best. It used to be rather hard to find a wand back in the day, because you had to try out every single one until you found the one. The traditional shops still work like that and it's quite effective, but at Miracle's and few other shops they use magical scanners. It scans your magical ability and your possible potential, your mentality and stuff like that, then it calculates which wands in the shop could be suitable for you. So you have to try a lot less wands. The traditional wands, though are a bit more unique and sometimes they get wands send back after a person dies. Wands can get more powerful over time, so they have pretty good wands as well. In the end all that matters is to find the right wand."

We came to halt in front of a very bright, white shop with the word _Miracle's_ written above the entrance. The display windows, displayed a few wand lying on cushions. They looked nice, even though some of them looked like toys. Inside it looked kind of like a modern shoe store. The cupboards were filled with pretty black boxes. Everything in the shop was white, the chairs and benches, the cupboards and the counter were the register was.

"Good Afternoon. How may I help you?" A middle aged woman same to us with a professional smile on her face. She looked exactly how an employee in a shop like this should look. Sophisticated and cleaned up. "We need wands.", Alice almost squealed. Oh really? Why else would you go into a Wand Shop?

"Is this your first time buying one?", she asked. All of us nodded. "Okay just wait here for a second." She left the room quickly only to come back with a small device in her hand and a second woman at her side. The second woman went to the computer and waited for the other one to start. The device she held looked like a metal detector and it seemed to be working like one as well, she was waving it around Alice right now. It had a little screen, which showed numbers. The woman read those to hear assistant, who typed it into the computer and printed it. Next was Rose than Jasper. All the same process. After that it was Chris turn and apparently there were some difficulties, because the woman frowned and started scanning Chris again. She read a few numbers to her assistant again, but she also used the word unknown quite a few times. "How should we work with that?", the woman on the computer asked. The other one shrugged."I don't know. Try to work with what we have. Do you know why some of your sectors are unknown, sweetie?", she asked Chris. Chris just shrugged.

"Maybe it's because they are regular born.", Jasper suggested. Now he'd done it. Both of the woman stared at Chris in awe.

"Oh you are one of the regulars, that is so exciting. I hoped to be selling your first wand to you and your sister, but we can't gather enough information, so you'll have to try more wands than everyone else. So where's your sister?"

"I'm here.", I answered slightly annoyed. We didn't look that different from each other. The sales woman looked at me then at Chris and seemed to realize this as well, because she was now smiling brightly at me as well.

"I'm sorry, Alana. But apparently we have now wands in this store that would be suitable for her. You could try her sister, but I doubt she'll be different.

Alana turned to me and scanned me now as well. Just as the other one predicted, there was also no wand for me in here. Alana's smile turned into a pout and she apologized a million times to me and Chris about not being able to sell us a wand.

Eventually she turned her attention to the other three and led each off them to another section of the store. She held the sheets with the information and picked out a few boxes for each of them. Then she led all of us into a separate room, that looked like a playroom.

"You can test the wands here. You'll know which one the right one is, when you don't destroy anything with it.", she explained and handed each of them a wand. All three wielded the wands in there hands and there was nothing but destruction going on. Jasper blew up a teddy bear, Alice broke a glass and Rose set a little fire. The sale woman quickly pulled her wand out wielded it shortly as well, while mumbling something and fixed the mess.

The second round was a slight bit better. Jasper seemed to have found the right one already, because the Teddy that he blew up before was now floating. Meanwhile Alice broke a table and Rose killed a flower." Well, I guess the young man has found his already. Wield it again please.", Alana instructed kindly

Jasper did and the flower that Rose had killed blossomed now beautifully. "Perfect. It needs some time to get used to it, but you'll eventually master your wand." She put it back in it's box and handed it to Jasper. He went to pay for it right away and Chris and I followed him.

"I wanna see it.", Chris whined right after Jasper bought it. He took it out of the box and gave it to her. It was maybe about 10 inches long. It was blue although the ends were silver, it was simple not like some of the toys I had seen in here and it suited Jasper.

"I like it.", both Chris and I said and smiled brightly at Jasper. He looked a little startled at our synchronicity, but laughed a second later.

"Jazzy, I got mine too.", Alice screamed and jumped on him out of nowhere. Rosalie appeared to with a box and smiled in satisfaction.

Rosalie's wand was about 8 inches long and it was red. One tip was golden and it had a some kind of flowery pattern on it. It was beautiful as well, although I liked Jasper's better. I realized that Rosalie's wand seemed to have a clear mark where the front was ( the golden tip) while Jasper's didn't. I wanted to ask about it, but I was distracted by Alice, almost shoving me her wand in the nose.

"Isn't it pretty? It so cool. It's perfect for me don't you think?", she was jumping up and down waving with her wand. Chris snatched out of her hand to look at it. The actual wand looked similar to Jasper's, it had the same shade of blue, but it was surrounded by glass and was filled with water and glitter. It looked like these glitter wands with which I used to play when I was a kid only was this not as thick. The glitter was silver and Alice was right, it suited her perfectly.

"So now we have to get you guys a wand. I think we should go to Alistair.", Alice seemed to have calmed down a little. Since I didn't know what she was talking about I simply nodded and followed her. The whole way Rose and Alice were holding their wands, careful not to wield it. Jasper explained that they were not allowed yet to use the wands outside of class until they knew how to work with them.

Five minutes later we stood in front of a shop that looked like an old bookstore. When we entered, there was a bell chiming.

Inside it looked a lot like that shop in the Harry Potter Movie. What was it called again?

"Is this some kind of joke? It looks like Ollivander's in here.", Chris complained. I nodded in agreement although it was more cleaned up in here. A man who seemed to be in his mid fifties stepped out. "Oh hello little Alice, are you her to buy your first wand? I don't think that there is anything suited for you in here.", he said with a small smile on his lips when he spotted Alice. "No I have mine already, but my friends here need one too." She gestured toward us.

"Ahh the regular borns, I knew that you would have come here. Extraordinary witches need extraordinary wands. Everyone who has bought one of my wands has made it very far.", he said while he looked at me and Chris.

"Edward bought his wand here too.", Alice piped in.

"Oh yes, Edward is a quite talented young man. I hope I'll find something fitting for the two of you." He walked out of the room quickly.

"Edward, had his wand special made. A lot of people do that in the traditional shops, it's a bit tricky, because you have to give the wand Master a bit of your magic, but in the end you have a very special wand.", Alice explained.

"It's nice to know, that you listened to me, Alice. She's right you know and all of these boxes you see here are either wands that took me years to create or wands that were sent back to me after the witch died.", the man was back and carried a few boxes and set them down the counter. These are wands that belonged to regular borns once.", he explained pointing at the boxes. Before I knew it, he shoved a wand into my hand. It was kinda thick and heavy, but I wielded it anyway. Nothing happened. He took it from me and handed it Chris, but there was also nothing. The next five wands weren't any better. Absolutely nothing happened.

"Alistair, is it normal that nothing happens? I thought that they would at least destroy something.", Rose asked."We did."

"Well, if the choice is too far off nothing happens. The more suitable a wand is the more will happen and when you find the right one you'll actually perform magic with it."

"So that means, that the wands of regular borns are absuloutely not suitable for the two of them?" Alistair nodded and hurried away. He was looking through his shelves and started asking questions. "Can you tell me what abilities you have?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain...", I started.

"Bella manipulates water and Chris fire.", Alice interrupted. That seemed to give Alistair a clue and he came back with two wands.

"Maybe this group of wands is right." He handed one to me and one to Chris. Again, nothing. Alistair frowned. "Usually this works with Pyros and Hydros.", he mumbled.

"You see, we don't really manipulate fire and water.", Chris started.

"Of course you do.", Alice said.

"No.", Chris and I answered. I continued."It's more like being water. I feel like it's a part of my body and it is, but it's not just manipulating it's more than that."

"We can hear it. The fire and the water.", Chris added. That made Alistair think, but his eyes glowed when he heard what we said.

"Real elemental witches. That is a very rare gift." he pulled out a few more boxes and let us try all of the wands and when none of them worked he looked for more. I was kind of enjoying this, it had some kind of mystical feeling and I felt a little giddy. But the whole peaceful atmosphere was destroyed when Alice's phone rang. All of us looked at her in annoyance and she quickly answered it. She talked quickly and then got up.

"Where are you going?", all of us asked her.

"Rose and I will get your gumboots for tomorrow, obviously this will take a bit more time. Apparently Edward is done with his shopping spree, so he and Emmett are coming to join you soon." She kissed Jasper quickly good bye and took Rose with her. Jasper just looked after them and then he took two stools that stood there and put them where we stood, telling us to sit. Alistair came back with a few more boxes, but again none of them worked.

"Do you know what animal spirit you are?", Alistair asked us.

"What is an animal spirit?"

"Never mind. So since none of the Pyro and Hydro wands work we can move on to the wands of the elemental witches. I'll have to look for them first." And he started searching again. Meanwhile Emmett and Edward joined us looking curious.

"So, have you found anything yet?", Edward asked.

"No. None of them works." I let out a frustrated sigh.

"How come it still looks so clean in here then?", Emmett asked.

"Because nothing happens.", Chris answered. Edward and Emmett looked surprised.

"Seriously guys, not even the dust moved.", Jasper said.

"Wow."

"Okay, how about this one. It belonged to an air witch. It might work for one of you." Alistair came back with a new box.

Chris tried it first and it was the same result as before and it wasn't much different when I took it. Alistair vanished again.

"Jasper how long are we already sitting her?", I asked desperately.

"About two hours.", he answered

"Oh man, I don't want a wand anymore.", Chris whined.

"Don't say that my dear, We'll find the right one for you." Alistair was back again with a new box."This one belonged to a fire witch. I'm pretty conifdent that this one will work." Chris took it. Nothing. She passed t over to me and of course it didn't work.

"Next.", Chris cried. Alistair was already on his way. He came back with new wands about four more times and then he stood there and looked a little discouraged.

"You are the toughest customers I ever had. Maybe you should tell me more about your abilities."

"I can shoot giant flames from my hand.", Chris replied lamely.

"I absorb water.", I said in the same tone. There wasn't much to tell, when we didn't know it ourselves. But then I hit my forehead. How could we have forgotten that?"We're bonded.", I added quickly. Alistair's face lit up.

"You mean a natural bond?" Both of us nodded.

"That's it." And with these words he jumped up and ran up a flight of stairs somewhere at the side. He came back with two wooden boxes. He carefully placed them in font of us and opened them. There placed on a cushion each were two beautiful wooden wands. Both of them looked like little horns as a matter of fact, after classes today, I could say they looked like unicorn horns, but much thinner and shorter than I would have thought.

"These are my most treasured wands. It has been in my family for generations and before that it has been in the Avalon-Clan for hundreds of years. Unfortunately the Avalon-Clan doesn't exist anymore today. It is a common belief that the Avalon-Clan..."

"Were the decedents of Heaven and Hell. You don't really believe that stuff, do you? It's just a story and nobody knows if it's true.", Edward interrupted. He had gotten up to stand behind me and I couldn't help the little jump that my heart made.

"Oh no, my dear boy. It's not just a story. The version that you are being taught in school is only a story, but there is some truth behind it."

"Yes, I know. But this whole crap about the power of life and death? It's just ridiculous. And what about them creating us? I don't think it's true. Obviously there had been someone who was the first of our kind and the demons, but this whole story is just ridiculous.", Edward argued.

"Yes, I don't disagree with you. But I'm not talking about heaven and hell. I'm talking about _Melantha _and_ Amarantha._ They had been the real model of Heaven and Hell. The story is a bit more complicated and I don't want to disturb you with it now, but there really has been a power that sealed away and there really had been a war. These two wands belonged to Melantha and Amarantha. Two very young unicorns gave them their horns and do you know why?" Chris and I shook our heads.

It was Edward who answered."Because unicorns trust virgins."

"Yes, that's right and also did those unicorns fall in love with their purity."

"I thought unicorns couldn't fall in love. It's a human emotion.", Emmett barged in.

"Oh unicorns are able to fall in love, but only with something, that is even purer than themselves. Unicorns are very vain creatures and since they are the purest thing out there, they wouldn't fall in love. It is said that Melantha and Amarantha shared a bond and that their love to each other was so strong and pure, that two young and naive unicorns fell in love with them and gave the their horns. Melantha and Amarantha made wands used them as their wands and with every spell they performed, it changed a little. Now it's not a pure unicorn horn anymore, because it has changed a lot, it was passed on to many people and only few could make these wands work for them. A unicorns horn is usually silver, but these two changed colors and look like ordinary wands now. Well, in a way. They are still special., because no wand is winded like that." The wands really were beautiful. One was black, but I could see a little silver hint in the windings and the other was ivory white and also showed little hints of silver. The tips were a little pointy, but not so bad that it could actually hurt someone. I started to feel the need to take the wand in front of me. I didn't realized that I was moving my hand until Alistair encouraged me to take it. "No need to be so hesitant, young girl. You should try it."

I took the black wand and as soon as I touched it, I felt a strange force of energy go through me. I heard the whispers of the water and then I heard more, I wasn't aware of anything happening around me I only heard so many voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying, the only word I heard was 'wield'. I did and when I did a fountain of clear water came out of the wand. It sparkled and looked kind of silverish. It was glowing strangely but it looked beautiful. The fountain stopped and normally, everything should have been wet but it wasn't. Alistair beamed at me. "The Melantha's wand is now yours. You are one of the chosen witches." I looked around the room and saw that Alice and Rosalie were back and had Dylan with them. Everyone was looking at me in awe and I quickly looked at the floor, blushing. "What was that?", Chris broke the silence. I shrugged. I couldn't place the emotions that came through the bond only one, which was excitement.

"Take the wand Chris.", I sighed at her and looked at the one in my hand. It really was beautiful. I saw Chris taking the other wand and for a moment nothing happened. I shifted nervously, but everybody else looked at her in anticipation. And Chris also didn't seem to notice that nothing happened. Maybe she was experiencing these strange whispers as well. The she wielded the wand and a blue fame came out of it. It was the same as the blue fire that she set on this one desk. It was only a bit more blue and it seemed more powerful. When it stopped it was exactly the same like my water fountain, nothing was burned. Chris turned to smile at me and I smiled back. Not only had we discovered that we had very rare abilities, but we also got very rare wands. Everything happened so fast and normally my head would have started spinning by now, but all of this felt so natural that I didn't think much of it. I felt the happiness streaming from Chris and I shared that feeling. Alistair seemed to feel the same way because he was beaming at us and his eyes started watering. "You are now the master of Amarantha's wand, you also are one of the chosen witches." I didn't really get why he was so excited about all this, but I didn't care right now. I was feeling almost as hyper as Alice.

"So, how much do you want for these wands?", Chris asked dampening my good mood a little. Rare pieces like this must cost a fortune and we didn't have that.

"Oh, they are invalueable. No money in the world could buy these wands. Knowing that the wands are now in the hands of their rightful owners is payment enough for me.", he answered.

"No. You can't just give them to us. You must want something. We could work for it or something, anything.", I immediately protested.

"No, I insist that you accept this gift. It would make me very happy, if you did." I couldn't argue with that. Alistairs bright expression turned dark all of the sudden. He looked worried. "Is something wrong?", Chris and I asked at the same time. His face lightened up again and he started to push all of us out.

"No, everything is perfect. You should go now. Enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your life. You're young, you should live as long as you can, before your lives turn miserable and complicated." And with these words he pushed us out and closed the door. We all looked at each other in confusion, but then we shrugged it off.

"We can go and visit the mermaids now.", Alice cried.

"Can't we go and change first.", Chris whined.

"Yes, of course. We shall make our way back to the houses." All of us followed, shaking our heads and asking Jasper how he managed to survive. As we walked down the street, I felt like someone was watching us. I turned and saw that Alistair was watching us through the window. Weird. I shrugged it off and ran after the others, who didn't notice that I had stopped walking.

_Alistair's PoV_

I looked after them. They were both still so young and naive. They should enjoy the time with their friends as much as they could, because soon their world was going to be turned upside down. I sighed. I had been so happy to be able to meet them. I didn't believe that they would still appear in my life time. But now I wished that they had never been dragged into this world. "So they really are the chosen ones, huh?", the voice that came from behind me, startled me. I turned and saw Laurent stepping out of the shadows. "You really need to stop doing that all the time. How did you get in here anyway?", I scolded him. Laurent walked over to a couch and slumped himself on it.

"I had classes with Dylan Cullen today.", he explained. I nodded in understanding.

"So, the wands worked?"

"Yes, better than I would have thought. I didn't think that they would already be this powerful. That's not necessarily a good thing.", I answered.

"Yes, I know. But we can't change that, so we should teach them how to work with their powers. I don't want them to get hurt."

"Well, that is your job." I sat down next to him.

"Oh, I know and it's the hardest job I ever had to do. Christabel is really stubborn, I'm not sure if I can get everything out of her in time. On the other hand she seems to learn very fast. Isabella is quite the contrary, she's shy and I don't think that she always trusts herself."

"So basically, you have one that doesn't really take interest in learning and the other one who's doubting herself."

He nodded. "It's actually both that doubt themselves, they just have different ways of expressing it." The expression on Laurent's face was thoughtful.

"Well, good luck with that." He would need it. All of us would.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Bet you are all curious now how this story continues muhahaha. The next chapter will probably not give you any information, about what the two of them are talking. You can guess though and I might tell you who the closest is.**

**You know, I'm starting to understand how J. and Stephenie Meyer felt like when they wrote their amazing books. If you create a whole new world there are so many things that you should think of. Lucky me that I'm not really creating a whole new world, or am I? Huh, I don't know, but what I do know is that I have still sooo much in mind. I'm starting to wonder if all of that fits into one FF. I mean I could always write a fic with about 100 chapters, but I think it might be a bit intimidating, don't you. Well, maybe I'm just exaggerating and all of my ideas will fit into this one FF, who knows. What would you think about a sequel (then I really know how Joanne and Stephenie felt like) I'm actually thinking about three parts (has a special reason that I can't tell you yet) well, we'll see...**

**Anything else to add? Oh, yeah...REEEEEVIEEEEWS! Please?:D**


	7. Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

**_A/N:_ Sorry for the wait guys. Did my best to type as fast as I could, but I ran out of ideas temporarily :( But I managed to get a grip and I think I made a pretty good chapter and to make it even better...I've got a beta (who's been distracting me from work, because we are currently writing a story together) So my amazing Beta's penname is You And Me Up In A Tree ( really I don't know how she came up with that one) She's a pretty amazing writer (just my opinion) and I like her writing style and in this chapter you get a little taste of that. You might notice yourself though, that it's a bit differently written than the usual, I hope you like it anyway.**

**Disclaimer:**** I am Stephenie Meyer and I do own Twilight! Who believes that's true?ß

* * *

**_ Chris' PoV_

"No," we answered in unison.

Alice pouted, her bottom lip beginning to tremble as she spoke in a small voice. "Why not?"

"Because they are pink. I don't like pink." We were still speaking in perfect synchronization. It seemed that Edward, Dylan and Emmett found this funny, because they all started chuckling.

"What's wrong with pink?" Rose interfered. Right, of course, she helped Alice pick these disgusting boots.

"Pink is too girlie," I answered, yet again at the same time as Bella. The whole twins-talking-at-the-same-time thing was really starting to annoy me. I turned to look at Bella pointedly and she did the same. Giving up, I sighed, and heard a sigh coming from behind me, causing me to smack myself on the head. Of course Bella the same, which only added to my annoyance. Sometimes we just had these moments in which we were absolutely perfectly synchronized.

The boys started laughing harder, and even Jasper was having a hard time keeping his concentration on comforting Alice.

"You are girls, so you shouldn't be opposed to pink," Rose argued.

"I can live with pink every once in a while, but that doesn't mean I like it. I never have and I guarantee I never will. I'm a strong, independent woman who likes to feel superior. Do you really think pink is a color I would wear for that? It's childish and makes me look like every other normal girl, who just want to find their Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Ugh, look at them! Not only are they pink, but they also have flowers on them," I complained. I had a very strong opinion on the color pink, and the majority of the time, Bella agreed.

"So you don't like pink because you think it makes you look weak?" Rose asked. I nodded. "Okay, then, what's your excuse?" she asked, turning to Bella.

"I am a sophisticated, intelligent person and I want to be judged for what I do, not by my appearance. By wearing these boots, I'd be creating the impression of a sweet girl who's goals expand no further than getting married and having pretty little babies. Also, the flowers aren't exactly giving off the impression of a grown up." Bella smiled pleasantly, sat straighter, and spoke with a slight British accent as she said that.

"So you don't want to appear dumb?" Rose asked, slightly defensive. Bella nodded. "Are you implying that Alice and I are stupid and weak?"

"Well...you are blonde," I started.

Bella continued, "and Alice is tiny." We shrugged in unison.

The boys couldn't contain their laughter and they burst into hysterics.

I couldn't help but laugh as well. Until a pillow suddenly hit me. I looked up and saw Alice standing daintily with a smug smile on her pixie face.

"What the...," I trailed off, grabbing a pillow and throwing it back at her. As soon as it was out of my hands, I saw that I had awoken the battle spirit. I quickly hopped up and ran towards the bed to grab a pillow of my own.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" Alice declared. With that said, Bella and Rosalie jumped up as well, grabbing their own pillows.

"This is for calling me stupid," Rose said, smacking both Bella and I on the head. We looked at each other, and silently plotted, then turned to her and smacked her on each side of the head.

It seemed that Alice wasn't quite done with me yet, because she started attacking me from behind. She jumped on my back and repeatedly smacked me in the head with her pillow. I slumped myself on the bed to get her off of me. Now we were both laying on the bed, completely defenseless. A very stupid move.

Rose and Bella came up and hit us as hard as they could. I somehow managed to roll off of the bed and throw my pillow at Rose with as much force as I could muster. It smoked her right in the face, causing her to fall off the bed with a thump. The thump made all of us freeze. Everything in the room was quiet, until a very dangerous and threatening Rose appeared. My eyes widened and I ran, squealing like crazy. I was doing my best to dodge every attack she threw at me, but eventually she got fed up of missing me and threw herself at me, effectively tackling me to the floor. She straddled my hips and bent down to my ear.

"It's too bad I have to ruin your pretty face," she whispered dangerously, taking the pillow and holding it high above her head in a ready-to-hit-me position.

"Why is it that guys seem to be unable to look away when girls fight?" Dylan asked, a small smile playing on his lips, as he stared at us.

"Because it's hot," Emmett boomed, lifting Rose off of me and hugging her tightly to his muscular chest.

I quickly jumped up and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job, big boy, you saved my face."

"Mermaids! Mermaids!" Alice randomly started screeching. It seemed that she was done with the pillow fight and had already gone back to her overly-cheery self.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Come on you guys," Alice whined like a petulant child. "I wanna be there before the sun sets!"

"Alice, we are almost there, so just chill," Edward groaned.

I really hoped, for Alice's sake, that we were almost there because I didn't want to be seen in public with these disgusting boots.

We were currently hiking through a little part of the forest that surrounded the campus. I wasn't a big fan of hiking and neither was Bella. We were trailing behind, not even attempting to catch up with the others.

"So Chris," Bella started innocently. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

I gave her a questioning glance. "What are you talking about?

"You and Dylan. Jasper said a few interesting things..." she trailed off with a smile on her face.

"So he really does run around telling everybody about everyone's feelings," I mumbled. This might actually turn out to be useful if I were to need information from him anytime soon.

"So it's true?" Bella gasped, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What is?"

"That you like Dylan?"

"WHAT?" I shrieked loud enough for the others, who were way in front of us, to hear. I glared at Jasper and was about to stomp over to him and smack him straight across his face when Alice started shouting.

"We're here, we're here. Look the lake is right there!" She was jumping up and down, pointing at a spot in front of her.

I looked and saw that it was a rather large meadow with a beautiful lake in the middle. The water was dark and it didn't look like it was moving even the slightest bit. The whole place kind of seemed awkward. It was like nothing moved. Everything was in some kind of frozen state.

"What's up with this place?" I asked quietly.

"Time moves slower here," Alice explained.

I looked around and took in the beautiful scenery, when I noticed that someone was sitting by the lake, talking to another someone who was in the water. All I saw was a head with wet red hair on it.

"Mom!" Alice shouted into the peacefulness.

"Alice, shut up," Dylan hissed. She immediately obliged with a pout.

Mrs. Cullen looked up. Right, I had forgotten that she was Alice's mom since she was married to Carlisle. So much for being a genius. Mrs. Cullen beckoned for us to come over, so we did. When we were close enough, I was actually able to examine the redheaded creature in the water. She looked like a normal girl, albeit much prettier than average. Her face was soft and a gentle smile was playing on her lips. The only thing that unsettled me were her eyes. They were pitch black, even the sclera. She either had no irises, or they were also onyx, so I couldn't see them.

She eyed us with a cautious expression on her face. Then, she gave Mrs. Cullen a questioning look. Mrs. Cullen said something to her in an unknown language. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, but it was somehow beautiful. It had a sort of flowing sound and was slightly entrancing.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Edward asked his mother.

"Oh, I wanted to get some information out of her for my class. I was thinking that we could possibly cover mermaids for our next topic," Mrs. Cullen explained.

"Can't we do something more exciting, like basilisks or dragons?" Alice whined. What was with her constant mood swings? She was the one who had suggested coming here in the first place, and now she doesn't find mermaids exciting enough?

"No, dear, the dragons will be much later. But I may think about the basilisks," Mrs. Cullen said.

"Um, Mrs. Cullen-" Bella started.

"Call me Esme, dear." Esme smiled gently.

"Esme," Bella said, "could we maybe discuss vampires?"

I groaned quietly. Ever since she had read this one stupid book, she had been obsessed with vampires. It had a really dumb title, but I can't remember what it was.

"Yes, we may do that." Esme laughed gently.

"We can catch little fire fairies," Alice suggested a little too loudly.

This place was so quiet and peaceful. It just seemed wrong to be screaming here, but Alice did it anyway and caused the mermaid to flinch. I looked at her soft figure and envied her for her beauty. Dylan was such a liar.

After everyone hushed Alice, the mermaid pointed at her and said something in that unknown language. Whatever she said, it sounded accusing.

Bella laughed quietly. "I can't believe you did that, Alice," she commented. We all looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked self-consciously.

"You understand Merian?" Edward asked her, astonished.

"Err, what?"

"Merian - the language of the merpeople."

"But she's speaking English," Bella replied confusedly.

"No, she isn't. She's speaking Merian," Edward insisted.

"It sounds like English to me," Bella said, shrugging lightly.

"Try talking to her," Esme said.

Bella turned around to look at the mermaid, who was looking straight back at her. Then, she opened her mouth and strange words started to flow out. She didn't sound like Esme at all. With her, it was more fluent. The mermaid answered her with a joyous expression on her face. I saw her scaled tail for the first time when it began moving up and down, causing little waves to dance over the water. The waves vanished quickly, and instead there were about 20 mermaids rising out of the water. All of them were heading in our direction.

"What did you do, Bella?" I asked her quietly.

"I just told her that her hair was pretty," replied Bella, helplessly.

"The word 'pretty' doesn't exist in Merian," Esme commented with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yeah, well, that's what I said," Bella insisted. Rose and Alice went closer to the water to regard the mermaids from a closer distance.

"Maybe it's one of the magical words," Esme mused softly.

"What magical words?" I sighed. Having to constantly ask things like this was starting to really get on my nerves. Seriously, they should have just let us stay in Phoenix, in a world where we knew what was going on and I didn't feel like a toddler having to ask all of the time.

"They are the words that win over a mermaid's heart. Some people call them the 'magical words' while others often refer to them as 'missing words' because there are words in the language that are simply not there because the merpeople won't tell. Therefore 'pretty' may be one of them, but that doesn't surprise me too much - mermaids are very vain creatures," Esme explained, looking fondly at them. They were surrounding Alice and Rose, who were busily complimenting them.

"Do they understand English?" Bella asked.

"They understand it, yes, but they don't speak it. In fact, they understand every language in the world, but they seem to be unable to speak any of them."

Bella nodded understandingly, which sparked a memory in me. I turned in Dylan's direction and glared at him.

"What?"

"You told me that mermaids aren't pretty. You lied," I snapped, my glare never wavering.

"Are you feeling self conscious?" he asked in an amused tone. Being the mature person I always am, I stuck my tongue out at him. That only made the idiot laugh.

"What exactly are we doing here, anyway?" I asked Alice.

"I want a strand of Mermaid hair," she answered, causing Esme to laugh at her.

"Why is that funny?" Bella looked at her in confusion, as did I.

"Alice, you aren't going to get a strand just like that," Esme snapped her fingers, "it takes years to gain a Mermaid's trust when you are a human female. They only trust males, and even then the males don't get a strand of their hair."

I quirked an eyebrow at Alice and Rose.

Rose began explaining quickly. "A strand of hair from a living Mermaid has magical powers. It's the only ingredient that is missing from the Beauty Potion."

A beauty potion? This place was getting weirder and weirder by the second. Why did I agree to this crap again?

"Why do you need a Beauty Potion? You're already beautiful," Bella remarked. I nodded in agreement.

"Wouldn't you want to drink a Beauty Potion if you could?" Alice asked her.

I wish she didn't ask that, but then again, neither of them knew of Bella's very low self-esteem. She thought of herself as plain, so this wasn't exactly the kind of question to ask her.

"I would," she admitted quietly, causing me to groan at her answer.

"That is ridiculous. You are already beautiful, so what exactly is the potion supposed to do? It can't make such a beautiful even more beautiful," Edward intervened, his face turning into slight embarrassment, but hardly.

I nodded in agreement when I had actually processed what he had said. He thought that Bella was beautiful. How cute. Bella's face was bright red as she looked at the floor. I immediately tried to push against the feeling of happiness and embarrassment that came my way from her. I really didn't need that. But either way, I still couldn't do much about the bond, so all I was able to do was ignore the emotions coming from Bella.

Soon, I got bored of the lake. Sure, it was really nice here and all, and I did enjoy watching the Mermaids play in the water, but just sitting around and watching wasn't something I really liked to do. Besides, I was hungry.

I glanced at the time on my phone and saw that we had only been here for five minutes. That was impossible! I was pretty sure that we had already been here for a few hours. I'd watched Rosalie and Alice trying to persuade the Mermaids to give them a strand of hair - which did not work. I'd sat with Bella on that one rock that was about halfway in the water, where she sat and spoke to the Mermaids. I'd talked to Esme about a few mythical creatures that we would be learning about in class. I played cards with the boys (Edward had made cards appear out of no where), and I'm sure they cheated (a mind reader, a mind manipulator, and an empath? That can't be good). It couldn't have been only five minutes.

"Hey, um, guys, what time is it?" I asked no one in particular. Everyone shrugged. "Don't any of you have watches or phones or iPods or something?" my voice was full of disbelief.

"We do, but we can't really look at the time while we're here," Emmett explained.

When he didn't explain any further, I impatiently said, "Meaning?"

"Time moves a lot slower at this lake because of the Mermaids. The time always moves slower in areas around a Mermaid lake. It's some sort of spell that apparently effects electrical devices as well," Dylan continued.

"So if I were to stay here, I would never grow old?" I asked. Now that was one of the few things in this place that made me smile.

"Yes, that is right. But nobody can live at a place like this," Edward told me. "The Mermaids have a habit of drowning people. They sing at night, and their song entrances humans. You'll go too close to the lake and then they'll grab you and you'll never see the sunlight again."

"What? And here I thought that Mermaids were kind creatures."

"They are, but they are also a little bit stupid. They like humans and want to take them along, which is why they drown them. Mermaids forget that we need air to breathe and they'll never learn it," Esme interfered as she got up. "I think we should be on our way. It's almost dinner time."

Everyone quickly sprang up, and several moments later, we were on our way back. As soon as the lake was out of sight, I looked at the time again. Yes, we had been there for two hours. I sighed. This had been a long day.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Hello pretty ladies," Damon said as he sat down next to me. "I see that you have taken us up on our offer."

I looked back at him in boredom.

"You know, you were pretty cool in class today," Dean said, gazing at Bella.

She smiled kindly at him, politely said, "Thanks," then continued eating.

I internally sighed. This girl simply didn't see it. She was really no good at flirting. Well, she was, but she wasn't good when it came to deciphering if a guy was interested or not. The whole Chazz thing last summer only happened because Raven and I had helped a little along the way.

"Did you get your wands already?" Dario asked. Out of the three D's, I found him the strangest.

"Yeah, we did," I answered.

"Really? We didn't see you at Miracles," Damon commented.

"That's because Miracles has no wands that were fitting for us," Bella said with a slightly smug smile on her face.

"Doesn't surprise me, your powers are way too cool." Damon was looking intently at me.

I sighed. Did he have to be so obvious? It made things far too easy. I mean, sure he was handsome and everything, but he practically threw himself at me, ruining any chance of fun.

Dinner was over pretty quickly, mostly because I wanted to get away, and soon, I sat in my room, unsure of what I should do next. After five minutes of sitting on my bed and doing nothing, I decided I may as well take a shower, then go to sleep. I was tired enough for that anyway.

Half an hour later, I was laying in my bed, sighing happily and reveling in the warmth.

I was halfway gone when someone knocked on my door. Who the hell would annoy me at this time?

I got up and made my way to the door, only to find Dylan standing there.

"What do you want?" I slurred sleepily. I didn't even care about the fact that I was standing there in front of him, wearing nothing more than a tank top and a pair of short shorts.

"You've gotta hide me," he hissed, pushing past me and closing the door in the process.

I turned and looked at him questioningly. "Why do I have to hide you?"

"Because Kate saw me and I'm trying to hide from her."

"Who's Kate? And why didn't you go and annoy Bella then? She's the one who loves dogs, not me," I told him, plopping down on my bed.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said dryly. "Your sisters not in her room."

"Why isn't she in her room?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's hanging out with Rose and Alice. It's only half past eight - you're probably the only person on campus that has already gone to bed."

"Whatever. Do you mind explaining the whole 'hiding' thing a bit better?"

"Um, well I was here to visit Bree, and when I came out of her room I saw Kate and quickly ran, but she saw me anyway. When I was standing in front of your door, I figured it would be the perfect hiding place."

"How nice. So I guess Kate is some kind of ex-girlfriend or something?"

"Something like that."

I shook my head at him. Someone knocked on my door again. I got up and opened it. Behind it was a beautiful blonde girl.

"Is Dylan here?" she asked, her tone sounding desperate. I figured that this was Kate. I thought about it for a second, and let my conscience win.

"Yeah, he's right here," I answered, opening my door further and revealing Dylan.

He glared at me, but I just shrugged it off. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had lied to a lovesick girl. Plus, the look on Dylan's face was priceless when Kate ran up to him and threw herself at him. I sent the happy couple out of my room, and ten minutes later, I was far away, being happy in dreamland.

"Wake up, Chris! We're going to be late," Bella's voice came from right beside me.

I opened my eyes and saw her laying on my bed next to me.

"Morning, Bella," I mumbled sleepily, smiling a little when I saw her. The best way to wake up in the morning was to be woken up by Bella. Well, sometimes it was.

"Hurry up and get ready. I'll wait for you downstairs," she told me, leaving the room.

I glanced at the time. Shit! It was already 7:15AM, and classes started at 8. What did I have an alarm clock for when it doesn't even ring on time?

I rushed through my morning routine, and when I was done, I ran downstairs.

Bella was waiting at the stairs for me, and handed me a croissant.

"You know you're the best, right?" I murmured after taking a bite.

"Yes, I know." She smiled kindly at me as we left the building. We were greeted by Alice, Rose and Jasper.

"We get to use our wands today, and we have our very first Potions lesson with Ms. Sanders. Aren't you guys excited?" Alice squealed.

I didn't even bother supplying her with an answer.

The whole morning was rather uneventful. We arrived at the school, and our first three classes weren't very exciting. It was just the same crap that teachers tell us to try and make us think that it will be important for our lives, although all of us know that we will never need it again. Seriously, why would I want to know the value of 'x' if it wasn't for school?

In history, I was so bored that I actually fell asleep.

"Chris, let's go," Bella's voice woke me up for the second time in a day.

"Where?" I grumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"We have Potions now, so we've got to go to the Potions classroom," she informed me. It was enough to wake me up. I was happy to finally go to a subject that would be interesting.

I swiftly packed up my things, and got up, following behind Bella and the others.

The Potions classroom was very big and very dark. The room was stuffed and looked kind of untidy, but it was nice and warm, so I wouldn't complain.

I noticed that we had this class with our parallel classes again.

"Come on, I want that table over there," Alice urged, pulling us along with her.

The table she had picked was in the very center of the room, making me internally groan. Who wants to be where everybody can see you? Oh, yeah, Alice.

"There are only groups of five people in this class, so find out who you want to be working with, and sit," I heard a female voice say.

I turned and saw that the voice belonged to a middle-aged brunette woman. I guess she's our teacher.

"For all of you who don't already know this, I am Ms. Sanders. We will have Potions together, and I don't want to waste any time talking, so we're getting to work right away. Open your books to page 15."

I pulled a book called "Potions for Beginners" out of my bag, and stopped short when I saw who wrote the book. Severus Snape? What the fuck? I looked at Bella who had just noticed the same thing.

"This is some kind of joke, right?" I asked Bella. She started giggling, probably at my expression which was more than likely dumbfounded.

"Is something the matter, Ms. Swan?" Ms. Sanders asked.

"You're not seriously trying to be funny by giving us a book written by Severus Snape, are you?" I asked disbelievingly.

"What is so funny about that? Severus Snape is one of the best potions masters in our world. It's such a generous thing for him to want to share some of his knowledge with young students like yourself."

"So, is Harry Potter real, too? If so, then please let me go home, because I'm seriously not in the mood for a battle with Voldemort, and I really don't wanna die."

Ms. Sanders seemed to understand what I was talking about because her expression changed to one of amusement.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that you are unfamiliar with this. Joanne K. Rowling is a witch herself. She used to go to this very school, actually. She based some of the characters in her books on personalities in our world, although I must say that I'm fascinated with the world she created." Ms. Sanders looked dreamily at something that nobody else other than her could see.

I really didn't know what to do with this information. Next time she's probably going to tell me that Charles Xavier was real, too, Wolverine is her boyfriend and they own a house together in Gotham city. Seriously, what is wrong with this place?

I decided to ignore this for now, and just opened the book to page 15 and began reading.

_Potions_

_Potions are a very important part of our magic. Not everybody is able to master this particular branch of magic, but it is always useful to know as much as possible. Potions are not simply elixirs that are mixed together with certain ingredients. It takes skill to be able to make a real potion. Some potions may take several days to finish, and others could be done in less than one minute._

_Every potion needs a little magic. To make that magic appear, you must follow the instructions. The reason why this is so hard for many witches, is because of the 'inch of magic' - that is what we specialists call the little spells that go along with a potion. To create the perfect potion, one must have a great deal of self-discipline and patience. This is much more difficult than mundane cooking. With the right attitude and motivation, you may create something special._

_Severus Snape_

Underneath of his extremely motivating words were the instructions for a Positive Energy Potion.

_This potion is a very simple one. It will make the one who drinks it more optimistic and positive about things, as well as let people around them see the person in a more positive light for several hours._

_Ingredients:_

1 medium glass with water from an everlasting lake

1 spoon of sugar

1 spoon of honey

9 leaves from a red rose

1 small clear fire crystal

_Preparation:_

_Mash the crystal and the rose leaves thoroughly with a dragon horn. Then, place all of the ingredients into the glass with the water. Stir until the sugar and honey have dissolved._

_Cut out a piece of a paper in a circle. Write your name around the circle, clockwise. Full name, 1st, 2nd, family name. In the center, draw a simple pentagram. Then, tap on it with your wand and say the word 'felices'._

_Place the glass on the paper, and leave it there to stand for 3 minutes. When the 3 minutes are up, pour out a small quantity into a cup, stir it with your wand, and fill it into a small bottle._

_Done is your personal share of positive energy._

"Once you've read the instructions, get to work," Ms. Sanders said. She clapped, and instantaneously, small cauldrons appeared in front of us, along with the ingredients for the potion.

"Yay! This is so exciting," Alice sang, grabbing the horn.

I wasn't sure if it was even safe to let Alice handle such a thing, mostly judging by the way she was beating the small red crystal with it, making the whole table shake like there was an earthquake.

"Alice, you need to be a little more gentle. Like this," Jasper told her softly, directing her hand to show her how to properly work it. Alice listened to his instructions quietly, and for the first time, I saw how they managed to maintain such a strong relationship. Apparently, opposites really do attract. Seeing them all cute together, whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear made me feel kind of...sick, really. Come on, I didn't need this in front of me right now.

I sighed in frustration and started to crumble the crystal with the dragon horn in my hand. It wasn't hard, and when I added in the rose leaves, it was even easier. Soon, the stuff in front of me looked kind of disgusting, but at least it was mashed. I looked over and saw that Bella had made the same progress as me, and we both added the sticky stuff to the water in the cauldron at the same time. We simultaneously added the sugar and the honey, then started stirring.

I didn't see the difficulty in this, but I wasn't going to say that out loud, or else Hermione Granger might jump out of no where and smack me on the head. You should never feel safe in this school.

I continued doing exactly what the instructions said, and then I stopped. I glanced around and saw that a few people were already taking out their wands. I pulled mine out of my bag and looked at it. I didn't even know how to use it, so how was I supposed to make it work?

Sighing, I tapped the paper with my wand, and murmured 'felices.' Nothing happened, but how would I know if anything was supposed to happen? I just assumed that I did it right, and put the cup on it. I leaned back and watched as Bella and Rosalie finished up, too.

The bell rang.

"Okay class, I'll take care of your potions, as long as you fill them up and label the bottles with your names. You can finish them next lesson. Those of you that still have to wait for three minutes, write your name on a piece of paper and put it beside the potion, I'll fill it up."

I quickly scribbled my name on a piece of paper and marched out of the room.

"Hey Chris, wait up!" I heard a voice from behind me. It wasn't Bella or any of the others as I would have thought. I stopped, and soon enough, Damon caught up to me.

"What do you want?" I sighed.

"I wanted to ask you if you want to eat lunch with me?" He looked straight ahead, not even bothering to spare me a glance once.

I thought about it for a minute. "Nah, not today." I turned and yelled at Bella and the rest, "Come on, you guys, hurry! I'm hungry."

"Hey guys, how was your day so far?" Rose asked Dylan, Emmett, and Edward. Today was a rather sunny day, so we decided to picnic on the lawn between the high school and the college.

"Cool," Emmett said.

"Normal," Edward answered.

"Awful," Dylan grumbled.

Alice, who was chewing on a slice of pizza, asked, "Why? What happened?"

"I'm back together with Kate." He sighed.

I burst out laughing, fully aware of the curious glances I received from the others, and the angry glare I got from Dylan.

"What's so funny?" Bella mumbled. She was leaning back, her face toward the sun, and eyes closed. She looked really relaxed, and breathtakingly beautiful. Apparently Edward noticed this too, because he looked rather entranced by the sight of her.

I looked back and forth between the two of them, but never got to say anything because Dylan's voice brought me back to the current situation.

"It's Chris' fault that we're back together."

I giggled as a smirk came onto my lips. Yes, I had done a very good job with that. I wasn't sure why, but I kind of liked to annoy him. Although, I probably should have found a better way to do that. Oh well...

"How did you manage that?" Emmett asked. Of course he would want to know.

"Oh, it wasn't really that hard. He came to my room yesterday in hopes of getting a hiding place, and when Kate knocked on the door and asked for him, I let her in," I answered nonchalantly.

"You know what, Chris? You're my new sidekick," Emmett announced.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That means that you and I are going to play pranks on these suckers here together." Rose slapped him on the arm.

"Everyone except for Rosie, of course," he added. That seemed to be good enough for her, since she smiled a little.

"I'll think about it - it might be fun."

Bella shook her head at us, but I saw a small smile on her lips. I placed a peck on her cheek, then continued eating.

"Aw, you guys are so cute," Alice cooed, then Rose joined her. I rolled my eyes at them, then ignored everyone as I enjoyed the sun.

Our break was over much too soon. We separated and went to our classes.

During class, I started to think that I was going to hate Thursdays for the rest of the school year. It was too much like normal school and I had never liked that. I only listened to half of what the teachers said, and when I was asked, I answered the questions correctly. It comes in handy to be some kind of genius when you're as lazy as I am. Bella actually worked for everything, although she didn't have to. And because of that, she knows a lot more than she should. That's why classes had never been challenging for her. I, on the other hand, was rather lazy. I didn't really have to learn, so I didn't, but since I do have a love for books, I also know more than I should. I wasn't as smart as Bella, but I was smarter than others, and that was good enough for me.

"Finally!" Alice yelled when Chemistry ended. "We're using our wands, we're using our wands," she sang all the way from the lab back to our classroom. All of us asked nicely for her to shut up, but of course, she didn't.

"Good morning, class. I assume that you are all excited for today's lesson, am I correct?" Mr. Cullen entered the room, smiling brightly at each one of us.

Everyone in the class nodded their heads.

"Alright. Before we start, I'm going to give you some instructions. As long as we are not using the wands, you will have to put them down to prevent any kind of damage. You are not allowed to use your wands for anything other than assigned homework yet. Magic battles on school grounds are forbidden. Do not curse while you are holding your wand. And last, but not least, those of you who don't pass the exams in a few months are not allowed to use their wands anymore. Of course, you can try again, but you can only fail three times. After that, you are no longer allowed to use it," he said. "Now we can get started. We'll go into the Magical Arts classroom. Follow me."

Everyone quickly shuffled out of the room and followed Carlisle.

The Magical Arts classroom was a lot bigger than our usual classroom, and between the desks there was a lot more space. Everyone had a single desk, and mine was between Rose's and Bella's.

"First, you need to get a feel for your wand. You need to control it. Every wand is different, and there are different kinds of wands. Some increase the magical power of it's user, and others are simply a magic extension. It isn't the best idea to use someone else's wand because of this. If you are really good, you may be able to work with it, but if not, then it will more than likely end up in a huge catastrophe."

I raised my hand. I was in a good mood right now, so I figured I might as well take part in the lesson.

"Yes, Chris?" Carlisle asked, noticing my raised hand.

"Why are there two different sorts of wands?"

"That is a very good question, Ms. Swan," he said. "Some witches have more magical ability than others. It's not about skill, it's just something that is given to them at birth. It's possible to increase the magic, but that does take skill, and not everyone is willing to do that. Some of you here may have already done it without even noticing. Specialized Magic class is one way to increase it.

"Some witches have a rather small amount of magic within themselves, so they need a wand that strengthens them - only a minority of witches get those. Most witches get wands that simply extend their powers. There is a third kind of wand that I didn't mention before because it's very rare. That is a circulating wand. They suppress the powers of witches a little. Some witches are extremely powerful, and since wands are usually there to strengthen their power, they need circulating wands. The circulating wands reduce their powers a small amount because if they are powerful enough to need a circulating wand, then that means that some spells wouldn't work properly due to their strength without a wand. The circulating wand comes into play there, holding back some of their power so that the spells will work correctly. The wands are a bit more intelligent than others, because they have to know the difference between a spell that requires a little bit of power, and a spell that requires a lot."

"Wands can think?" Rose asked with a confused expression on her face, matching the confused tone in her voice.

"Of course. A wand is not just a stick. They have a little magic within themselves, giving them something that we would call a brain. It's like artificial intelligence, only magical. The second the right witch touches the wand, the wand gets a soul. You transfer a little piece of yourself into the wand. Wands are able to absorb magical energy, and that's how your connection to your wand happens. But the connection has to be built. Some connections are so strong that the witches can actually call their wands and summon them this way.

"Today, we are going to look are your wands and see what kind you have, and how you need to handle it. We'll put them in the wand scanner for that." He gestured to a little cabinet beside himself. "The necessary information will appear on this screen-" he motioned toward the whiteboard, "-and I will give you some tips on how to handle them. You are quite lucky that your generation has this kind of technology. Back in the day we have to figure out how to use our wands ourselves." Carlisle chuckled a little, then called the first person to the front.

"And I thought we were going to use them today," Alice complained from in front of me, pouting.

"Chill, Al. We still have plenty of time to do that," Rose told her lightly, twirling her own wand around.

It wasn't really interesting what was going on at the front of the room. Almost everyone had an extension wand, so it got pretty boring quickly. Well, apparently Jessica Stanley had an increasing wand, as did Lauren. I could have guessed that by myself. Alice, Rose, and Jasper all had extension wands, and then it was Bella's turn.

The screen usually showed the whole class the three basic ingredients of the wand, it's classification, and special abilities. I shouldn't have been surprised when the scanner couldn't show everything about Bella's.

It was a circulating wand and one of the ingredients was unicorn horn. The other ingredients were unknown, and special abilities were unreadable.

"That is quite impressive," Carlisle mused, taking the wand and inspecting it closely. "Chris, may I see your wand?"

I stepped to the front and gave it to him. He put it in the scanner as well, and it showed the same thing as it had for Bella's.

I sighed when I heard a murmur ring through the class. Why couldn't we just be normal and have normal wands?

"I think you two are the only high school students with circulating wands. Actually, you may be the only students to have them. It isn't a very common occurrence now a days. The two of you are very special in so many ways. It shouldn't be possible to have so much magical energy, but I think I'm going to have to stop being so surprised." Carlisle smiled kindly at us.

"Your wands are harder to control than others, and the fact that their special abilities are unreadable doesn't exactly help. That could only mean that you have very powerful wands. I've never seen a wand created from unicorn horn, so you must be extra careful with them, otherwise you may hurt someone with it. I don't think I have to worry too much about it with you two, though." Carlisle let us sit down again, then continued the scanning.

Fifteen minutes later, he was done.

"Okay class, this is good, we have enough time to learn a little spell. The one I always teach my beginners class is the Jesus spell."

Jesus? What exactly were we supposed to do? Turn water into wine?

"The Jesus spell has it's name because you will be turning water into wine."

I smacked myself in the forehead.

"You will lightly tap on the rim of the glass, say the word 'vinosia' and then stir the water counter clockwise three times. We'll start right now in class, and it won't work right away, but it will be your homework, so just keep practicing."

After he finished talking, beautiful old, golden cups appeared in front of us.

I sighed, but got to work anyway. I wasn't expecting for anything to happen, and it didn't. Nobody in the class managed to change anything.

For the next ten minutes, the air was filled with frustrated groans and people repetitively saying 'vinosia'. When the bell rang, everyone seemed to be relieved.

"Remember to practice. I want to see if you made any progress on Monday," Carlisle told the class, then dismissed us, and we all left school.

"This was a tiring day," Rose exclaimed with a yawn, then stretched her arms above her head.

"So...what should we do today?" Alice asked.

"How about just enjoying the sun?" Jasper suggested.

"Good idea." We all agreed.

We arrived at the black house quickly, wanting to inform the other three of our plans. When we finished doing that, we all moved to the blue house so Bella and I could quickly change. The others waited downstairs while we went up to our rooms.

When I opened my bedroom door, I stopped short. My whole body was frozen in place, and I couldn't take my eyes off the sight in front of me. There was a spider, half the size of me, sitting in the middle of my room. It was moving. I backed away instantly.

And the only thing that was louder than my scream, was Bella's.

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**_A/N:_** **Haha don't worry no cliff, because I'm soo cool that I've already written the next chapter. Yeah, I know you love me. Slowly the story gets a dramatic twist, I think it was enough introducing to this world, right? I mean it's still all about school and their lives their, but I have bigger plans, my dear readers...**

**Soooo how did you like the chapter and it's slightly new style. If you like it you should tell me and if you didn't you should tell me as well. What I'm basically saying is "Reviews". Y'all know that it makes an author happy :D And one more thing:**

**I mentioned earlier that I'm currently working on a story with my beta and I want you guys to check it out. It's called _The Prophecy of the Elemental Phoenix_ and it's uploaded by _You And Me Up In A Tree. _If you like this story, you'll definitely like that one as well...that's all I gotta say for now, kiddos and I'm going to write another author's note in a second anyway so I'll just move on to the next chapter-**


	8. Sisterly Love and the Rest of Them

_**A/N:**_** I'm very sorry, I actually wanted to update hours ago, since the chapter was done already, but my dearest Laptop just didn't agree with me on that. It kept turning off and eventually it refused to turn on again (Not really good when you're currently working on new chapters) Not only did it make it impossible to update, but I also had to ditch my lovely beta, because that stupid piece of technology refused to do anything. I still haven't figured out what it's problem is, but hopefully my mom will just give me one one of her hundreds of computers and so the problem will be solved. Right now I don't trust this thing that's standing in front of me...**

**Anyway, I managed to update again and this chapter is going to be shorter than the others, but I'm already working on the next and hopefully it'll be done soon. **

**This chapter is dedicated to my lovable two little brothers, simply because I wanted a chapter where the love between siblings is being expressed and I hope I did a good job with that;D

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Chris POV

I felt disgust and horror pour into me and run through my veins, and it wasn't just me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Bella backing out of her room, too, but my gaze was mainly fixed on the giant spider.

Dylan and Edward suddenly appeared.

"What's wrong?" they asked the two of us simultaneously. I wasn't able to answer, and simply pointed at the sight in front of me.

Dylan's gaze followed my hand. "Shit!" he exclaimed. "Edward, we've got a little problem here. It's a giant black widow. It could kill us."

The spider moved closer to where we were, while Dylan turned in Edward's direction.

I started screaming again, gaining Dylan's attention back. "Okay. Hold on tight!" he instructed, picking me up in his arms. I was still in a shocked state, so I simply did what he said.

We were in this strange flash of lights, and despite the fact that I wasn't really mentally there, I still felt alert when we were in this strange place. The feeling didn't last long, though, because we were suddenly in an unfamiliar room. It was big and bright.

Dylan set me down on a beige-colored couch.

"Stay still," he said softly to me.

I nodded and tried concentrating on my breathing, and only then did I realize that my breaths were shallow and coming much too fast. I tried to take deep breaths but failed.

Dylan was talking on the phone to someone and walked up and down.

I took in my surroundings. I was in a living room. It was a very beautiful place. Big, modern and light. I would have looked at it some more, but there was something disturbing me. I felt something crawling over me. I brushed it off, but the feeling was still there and even worse it increased. It was like a thousand tiny spiders were crawling over my body. I started tossing in an attempt to get those spiders off of me, but it didn't work, they were still there. I was only vaguely aware of the screams that came out of my mouth. Dylan was at my side instantly.

"Chris, what's wrong?"

"Get them off!" I screamed. The spiders were now everywhere and I couldn't get rid of them. I tossed and turned but there were too many of them.

"What's wrong with her?" I heard a familiar voice ask, but I couldn't see anything, all I saw where the spiders on my body.

"GET THEM OFF!" I screamed again, louder than before. I felt helpless and desperate. I could feel the tears filling my eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Dylan asked me gently.

"THE GOD DAMN SPIDERS! GET THEM OFF OF ME!" Panic was rising inside me and my head started hurting.

"Chris has an arachnophobia. She's scared of spiders." I heard Bella's sweet voice. She sounded weak and there was something else. Everything around me was dark, but I reached out my hands in the direction where I heard Bella."Bella, help me! Get them off!" I sobbed. I felt Bella's warm hands touching mine and she pulled me into a hug. Her strawberry and freesia smell was so familiar that I calmed a bit down. "Chris, there are no spiders. Calm down, okay? I'm here," she whispered in my ear. I nodded weakly.

Bella tried to sound reassuring but the tone of her voice was different. I felt panic coming from Bella as well.

Bella was scared.

That thought pulled me back into reality. I saw the light room around me again and ignored the crawling feeling on my arms and legs. I noticed that I was sobbing hard and that Bella was trying to hide her tears. I saw Dylan and Edward watching us with blank expressions and behind them opened a door and the others entered as well.

"Bella, what happened?" I asked her, trying to be calm.

"Nothing," she mumbled into my shoulder. I took a deep breath and tried to even my breathing. It worked better than it had earlier. I wiped the tears off of my face and took Bella's face in both of my hands, forcing her to look at me.

"What happened?" I asked again in a stern voice that was slightly shaking. But it was enough to break Bella. Her eyes filled with tears and she slung her arms around me.

"It...was dead...just lying there...sliced open," she managed to say between her sobs. I couldn't make sense of her words, but I didn't push it anymore.

"It's okay, Bells. Just try to breath. Don't freak, okay?" I told her, tears rising in my own eyes. I was on the edge of losing it and I couldn't bear to see my sister like this. It broke my heart.

"Come on the two of you. We'll take you to the hospital," I heard a gentle voice. Through the tears I couldn't exactly see who it was, but I knew it was Esme. She gently pulled Bella off me and then said. "Edward take her to the hospital and Dylan you take Chris. I'll call your dad and then I'll join you."

I felt as I was lifted up again and this time when we entered the strange place, I fainted.

I opened my eyes and was immediately blinded by a bright light. I quickly squeezed my eyes shut again.

"She's awake," I heard a female voice sigh in relief. It sounded like Rosalie. I groaned and covered my head with the blanket. Someone pulled it away though.

"Don't hide your face, I wanna see it," Dylan's voice joked.

"Then take a picture," I mumbled and attempted to open my eyes again. The light was too bright, but I somewhat got used to it. I sat up and looked around.

I was in a hospital room. I made a face at that. I didn't like hospitals, the smell was unsettling and it was too bright.

Rosalie, Emmett and Dylan sat around my bed. All of them wore different expressions on their faces. Rosalie looked concerned, Emmett encouraging, and Dylan...I couldn't tell.

"What am I doing here? Where's Bella?"

"Bella is in the room next door. She woke up half an hour ago. We saw her and she seems to be fine, she's worried about you though," Rose told me.

"You just fainted. Bella was frantic, she said that you don't faint often," Dylan added.

"I don't. The last time I did, I didn't wake up for two days," I mumbled.

"Well, then we're lucky to have you back after 12 hours," Emmett said with a big childlike, dimply grin on his face.

"12 hours? Damn." I rubbed my forehead. "So, are you guys going to tell me what happened?"

They exchanged glances and then looked at me in confusion.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"You don't remember?" Dylan asked carefully.

"Remember wha-" and then the memory hit me. I shuddered and I felt the panic rising in me once again.

"Shh, it's okay. Relax," Dylan whispered in my ear his hand on my arms, stopping me from shaking. I looked up at his face and saw a kind smile there. My shivering stopped and for the first time, I actually saw more than just an annoying pretty boy. He did have some personality after all.

"Chris! I was so worried about you," the voice that I have known all my life exclaimed. I looked around Dylan and saw Bella tripping into the room.

She was caught by Edward, luckily and I felt a little smile tug at the sides of my mouth when I saw the concerned look on his face. He steadied her and she blushed for a moment, then continued to make her way toward me. She threw herself in my arms and squeezed me with all her strength.

"How are you?" she asked me softly, still not releasing me. I held onto her tightly.

"I'm okay, I think. And you?"

"Coping." We smiled fondly at each other and our bond hummed contently, but darker thoughts crossed my mind.

"Bella, tell me what happened," I demanded quietly. I couldn't stand the memory of Bella freaking out.

Bella's smile vanished and she looked as if she wasn't going to tell me. I narrowed my eyes at her and then it happened again.

I heard her thoughts. Or rather saw them. She was thinking about what happened. First how she and I went to our rooms.

When she opened her door, she stepped halfway in only to see a dead dog lying there. It was sliced open and the blood was everywhere. The sight of it's guts made Bella sick and she started to panic. Why was this in her room? She heard me scream then. I couldn't see more than that, because Bella's thoughts changed. It was me lying on the couch of that living room.

I had been out of my mind. I saw myself tossing around like a mad woman, screaming to get the spiders off of me. I slapped my own arms and even scratched myself on some places. Tears were running down my face...

I didn't want to see anymore. I took a deep breath and returned to my own mind. Looking down on my arms, I realized for the first time a few bruises and scratches.

"That's so awful. Why would someone do this to you?" I whispered. Bella looked up at me with a confused expression but then understanding crossed her face and was soon replaced by sadness.

"Or to you," a voice added. I looked up and saw Carlisle and Esme entering the room. "We will have to find the person responsible for this. You don't have any idea who would have done something like this, do you?"

Bella and I shook our heads. Carlisle sighed and ran a hand through his short golden blond hair. He seemed to be frustrated.

"Well, girls, we've taken care of everything and you're free to go back to your rooms now. Maybe the kids should escort you, just in case," Esme said and smiled at us, before she and Carlisle left them room again.

"Alright, I think we should let Chris get dressed and then we'll be on our way out," Dylan said, earning confused glances from everyone. He simply quirked an eyebrow at us. I dismissed it and waited for them to leave the room.

I got dressed quickly and tried not to think about the incident too much. It was probably just some stupid prank from someone. Someone with a very twisted sense of humor, but I don't think that this meant anything. After all there was not a single person, except Bella, that knew that I had a rather serious case of arachnophobia. It had been like this since I was little. When I was five, I accidentally locked myself in our basement. There hadn't been any light, but there had been many, many spiders. Somehow I managed to fall into a whole lot of them and they were all over me. I remembered that I had been desperate to get them off but I didn't see anything. It had been a while until Mom found me. It doesn't exactly sound bad, but it had been when I was five. Back then I was scared to death and ever since then I didn't deal too well with spiders.

I stepped out of the room and Bella immediately hooked her arm through mine and put her head on my shoulder.

"I guess we can go," Alice said and all of us left the hospital. Outside it was rather cloudy and it looked like it was about to rain. Jasper stopped walking, causing all of us to halt as well and look at him in question.

"What's wrong Jasper?", Alice asked. Jasper shook his head as if trying to get rid of a thought. Emmett turned and smiled mischievously.

"Whoever is the first at the fountain, gets ten dollars from all the losers. No cheating!" he exclaimed and started running, leaving the rest of us behind with a dumbfounded expression.

"Don't just stand there, are you going to let him win?" Jasper was the first to get out of the daze and started running as well. The rest of us followed, everyone with their own scream of motivation.

Third POV

None of the kids saw the person that had been watching them in the shadows. He smiled coldly. None of them would ever guess that it was him who put those animals in the girls' rooms. But his master wouldn't be too pleased to hear that they were not yet ready. He sighed and walked away, knowing that his master would be anything but pleased with him at this moment, even if it wasn't his fault.

Chris POV

Everyone complained when they handed Emmett the ten dollars. He had a head start, so this was hardly fair, but he still expected us to pay up. That idiot. We all hung out for a little while longer around the fountain until it was time for dinner.

Bella and I sat on our - now - more or less usual table, where the D's were already waiting for us.

"Hey, guys. I heard what happened. Are you okay?" Dario asked in a concerned tone. I shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Someone in this school has to be really twisted to do such a thing," Damon commented and slung his arm around my shoulder.

"Obviously," I stated.

It was more of a reflex than anything else that I leaned against his shoulder. Damon seemed to be surprised, but didn't say anything. Leaning against him like that made me think about giving him a chance. After all he was very good-looking and he was nice. It would take a bit more to win my heart but it was a start and it had been some time since I had a guy to lean on. Although I would never admit it, I wanted to be with my Prince Charming someday, just like every other girl.

Overall, dinner wasn't very interesting, but I got curious glances from Bella every now and then. At the end of dinner, I was a little wary about going to my room. So was Bella. Dean and Damon seemed to notice that.

"We could escort you to your rooms?" Dean suggested after seeing our expressions. I nodded gratefully, took Damon's hand and pulled him along.

When we stood in front of my door I handed him the key. "You open it!" I demanded and he obliged right away.

I turned away from the door not wanting to see it, if it was actually there again.

"It's all clear," Damon whispered into my ear and let the key dangle in front of my face. I snatched it and turned to smile gratefully at him.

"Thank you," I said and gave him a small peck on his cheek. Before I vanished into my room, I winked at Bella, who smiled in amusement at Damon's shocked but ecstatic expression.

I didn't know what to do with myself then, so I decided to read some of our school books and eventually, I fell asleep when I started reading about the seventh sense.

Saturday morning came and I woke up on my small couch. It wasn't really good to sleep on it. I looked at the time.

It was 10:30 already.

"Come on Chris, let's grab something to eat," Bella shouted outside my door.

"Coming!"

The whole Saturday was not really that exciting. We hung out with our friends (yes, at this point I really thought of them as friends) and practiced turning water into wine.

Emmett and Edward tried to help us as much as they could and eventually I managed to do it. Bella and Jasper were next to complete the task and after that it was Alice and Rose. We were so ecstatic that we started happy dancing around the fountain. To celebrate her success, Emmett and Rose made out for ten minutes. It was disgusting to watch and even worse to hear, so when I got tired of it I pushed them into the fountain and ran as fast as I could, since Rose was not to happy about being wet.

Meanwhile, the others stayed behind and talked and it seemed like Bella and Edward were starting to get closer. At some point Rose caught me and decided the best punishment was to tickle me and she was not very far off with that. After many minutes of merciless tickling, Rosalie decided to be done with me and walked over to the others, letting me lay on the lawn. I was exhausted from all the laughing and my tummy hurt so I didn't move an inch.

Damon's face suddenly appeared above mine.

"Hey there," he greeted me cheerfully.

"Hey there yourself." Damon sat down beside me and I sat up. He pushed some of the dark hair that was dangling in his face out of the way and let out a deep breath, looking up in the sky. The weather was really nice today again, but I knew that it was going to change soon.

"You know, since you didn't eat lunch with me the other day we should do something together now," he stated, smiling a little at me.

"Do you have anything particular in mind?"

"Um, actually no," he admitted.

"Well, then let me know when you do," I said and got up to rejoin the others.

After that I spent the rest of the day with my new friends and let every negative thought go away. The sun was probably one of the reasons why I felt much better, and on Sunday the sun was shining again, so we spent the day more or less like the previous day. We watched the boys play football and Kate joined us to cheer for Dylan. She wasn't too bad, but for some reason, her presence bothered me a little. I ignored it though and simply enjoyed watching the boys, who played shirtless, giving me a reason to find this interesting. It got even more interesting when the D's came along and decided to play as well. What's better than watching a bunch of hot boys, sweating with no shirts on? Ben & Jerry's ice cream, of course, but I didn't have any so this would have to do. I couldn't help but notice that Dylan had a really nice body and Damon wasn't bad either. Dylan's was better, but still both of them were drool-worthy. I was not the only one thinking like this. It was like every girl in the school was sitting there as well, watching the guys and even taking pictures of them. Every guy had his own cheerleaders and at some point, the amount of girls was so much that we had to force the boys to get dressed again.

I handed Damon his shirt, he grabbed it very fast and pulled me toward him. I could feel the heat radiating from him and I saw his chest rising and falling in a quick manner.

"Why do I have to put a shirt on?" he asked.

"Because there are about a hundred girls drooling at the sight of you half-naked," I answered.

"Are you saying that you're jealous?" he suggested with a boyish smile on his face. I swear his attitude was changing fast. A couple of hours ago he was nothing more than a cute boy and now he was starting to get all sexy on me.

I winked playfully at him "Maybe," I said and went to walk away, but he grabbed hold of me.

"You will go out with me tonight," he stated.

"Who said that?"

"I just did."

"But what if I don't want to?"

"Then I will choose one of these drooling girls."

I looked around and my gaze stopped at Dylan and Kate. He was pulling her into an embrace, kissing her softly. For someone who had complained about being together with her, he sure changed his mind quickly.

"Okay." I sighed. "What do you want to do?"

"You'll see. I'll pick you up at twelve."

"But we already have curfew at ten," I protested. Yes, even I had a responsible side.

Damon was jogging toward his friends. "Let that be my worry," he yelled and waved at me.

I shook my head at him and noticed that I still had his shirt. I smiled a little and joined my friends again.

Alice had decided to go to the schools swimming pool, so all of us went along. I didn't even understand why all of them did what Alice wanted to do. But come to think of it, I didn't even get why they were such close friends and how we ended up as part of them.

The day passed very quickly and soon I was in my room again at loss of something to do. I started reading, and when the clock said that it was half past eleven, I decided to get ready for my...date.

I put on a short red dress. I always used to wear it back home. The skirt of it flowed lightly around and followed with every move I made. It ended mid-thigh and it was pretty thin.

I was looking for something to cover myself up a bit when my phone started to ring. I looked at it and saw that no one was actually calling, it just rang. Then a message appeared on the screen.

Come out.

I frowned. There wasn't even a number, but then I remembered. Damon had this technical gift, so it was probably him.

I opened my door, only to find him standing there.

"Wh-" I started, put he quickly put his hand on my mouth and signalled for me to be quiet. He pulled me along and moved as quietly as possible.

We didn't take the elevator, we took the stairs. And soon we landed in the kitchen.

Dean and Dario were waiting in the kitchen. The boys nodded at each other and Damon walked toward a back door. He didn't open it at first, he only put his hand on the handle and waited for a moment. Then he opened the door and ushered all of us outside.

The boys led the way and we walked behind the house, through a lot of bushes and trees. I was about to curse out loud for wearing this short dress, when we came to halt.

The school compound simply had too many meadows. There was a big bonfire in the middle of the place and there were a lot of people sitting on tree trunks around it.

"Am I finally allowed to talk?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," Damon answered and took me with him to sit down. He motioned for his friends to go and sit down somewhere else, so we sat a bit further from the others, alone.

"What exactly is this place and why are so many kids not in their beds?" I asked. My sarcasm was returning to life.

"They always meet here. Sometimes it's kinda boring but other times it's really exciting. Some of these kids here have pretty amazing talents, not like you obviously, but this girl over there for instance-" he pointed at a black-haired girl on the other side "-she dances with the fire. It's really beautiful to watch."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Not as beautiful as you are," he quickly added.

"If you say so." I sighed and leaned against his shoulder.

For the rest of the night, Damon and I mostly talked about everything and nothing. We listened to the stupid ghost stories that some guy told, creating the images in the fire and laughed at Dean when he burned himself with the fireballs he was trying to juggle around. At two o'clock, I was starting to get really tired.

"I should get you back, right?" Damon asked after I yawned for the fifth time in a row.

I nodded sleepily.

"Okay, let's go." He lightly jumped up and pulled me along.

After we made it through the bushes and trees, he took my hand casually, like we were a couple already. I let him and enjoyed the distant feeling of butterflies in my tummy. It wasn't really strong but it was nice anyway.

When we stood in front of my room, I hugged Damon quickly.

"Thanks for taking me out in the middle of the night and taking away precious sleeping hours," I whispered, and pulled back so he could see the smile on my face

He shook his head slightly at me."You're welcome," he mouthed and then he leaned down toward me in an attempt to kiss me.

I turned my head so he only kissed my cheek. "You'll have to work a lot harder than that to actually get a kiss," I informed him when I saw his confused expression, then opened my bedroom door. "Good night." I closed my door quietly, not even waiting for him to say anything else.

As soon as I was out of the dress, I fell into my bed and slept.

Unfortunately, my alarm went off too soon and I would have killed it if Bella hadn't entered my room, telling me to get up and then left again to get ready.

I managed to drag myself out of bed and get ready. When I stood in front of the mirror in my school uniform, I noticed that I didn't even look half as tired as I felt, but my hair was a mess. I pulled it back into a ponytail, although I didn't like doing that. I always wore my hair down, or like last week with a scarf pushing it back. Today, I did like Bella and left the room just in time to get to breakfast with Bella, who was already on her way downstairs.

The boys sat with us at breakfast like every morning, but I got suspicious glances from Bella who noticed how acquainted Damon and I suddenly were.

When we were on our way to school with Rose, Alice and Jasper like usual, Bella dished out to Alice and Rose.

"Spit it out, Swan. What have you and the pretty boy done?" Rose asked when Bella was done telling on me. I stuck my tongue out at my lovable sister and put my arm around Rose's waist, who had put her arm around my shoulder.

"Nothing really. He took me out on a date last night," I told her, just as he ran past us waving quickly at me.

"When was that? You were with us the whole time," Alice piped.

"Like I said, last night."

"You mean really in the night?" Alice asked.

I nodded.

"Oh Chris, you're a bad girl. That's against school rules and you know it. I like it," Rose giggled and bumped her hip against mine.

The whole day started of quite good and I surprisingly did not fall asleep during classes. The morning classes passed rather quickly and today we decided to eat lunch in the schools cafeteria with Emmett and Edward.

After that we had Specialized Magic. But since today was Monday and Laurent had announced that we had theory on Mondays, we just walked back to our usual classroom.

"Good morning, class." Laurent entered the room and looked around. His gaze settled on me and I think I saw something like a frown appear on his face. Then he moved on and continued the class."Like I said last week, today I will tell you what classification you have. Most of you might have guessed yours already, but there might be some surprises." He started to read the list and I hardly listened. I didn't really care. I heard that Alice was a Special (the proper term for those with 'other' powers) and so were Jasper and Rosalie.

"Isabella Swan. Hydro, Psych and Special." Once again everyone in class started to murmur. You'd think they'd get used to us being different some time.

"For now I'm going to put you into Hydro, because I don't know the full extent of your powers yet. It might change though," he continued. "Christabel Swan. The same thing. Pyro, Psych and Special. I will put you into Pyro for now." Then he moved onto the less interesting people. I stopped listening. Like I said, I didn't care. They were all just secondary characters in my life, they should be lucky when they actually get text.

The whole lesson was all about the proper use of our talents and how it was possible to have more than one gift. I was starting to get bored so I raised my hand.

"Yes, Ms. Swan?" Laurent questioned warily.

"I'm bored," I stated making a few people in the class laugh.

"That's nice to know, but maybe you wouldn't be if you were paying attention to the lesson," Laurent didn't hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, I did and I don't really like it. I wanna learn something else."

"Then what do you want to learn?" Laurent asked.

"I wanna know what animal spirits are." Laurent seemed to be surprised that I actually had some superior motives to interrupt his lesson and didn't just do it for fun.

"Well, you're not really at the stage yet to learn that. It's going to be a special class for elected students only, since not everyone is able to master this branch of magic. I haven't even mastered it myself."

"So what exactly is it?" I pressed.

"Every witch has an animal spirit. An animal that suits the witches personality. Every witch has that, but to actually do the magic with it is the real problem. My animal spirit, for instance, is the Chameleon. If I would have been able to connect properly with that branch of magic, today I would be able to talk to chameleons and turn into one or inherit some of it's abilities. There's more to it, I think, but I can't tell you that much," Laurent finished and looked at me to check that I had listened.

I nodded gratefully at him and gestured for him to continue his lesson. The roll of his eyes didn't escape my notice.

The rest of the day was a drag and the rest of the week wasn't any better.

I guess only the first week was exciting, but when you actually get used to the craziness, it gets boring.

Everyone in the class finally managed to turn water into wine and we were now faced with the challenge of turning it back. Esme taught us all about merpeople, Laurent was making us use our powers while he stood there with a stopwatch, seeing how long we could keep it up. In Potions class, all of us had to do the potion again because none of them worked. But mine did work the second time I tried and so did Rose's by the third time Alice, Jasper and Bella caught up.

I went on two more dates with Damon, both of them during sunlight. I found the picnic very interesting, but he loved the movie we watched. Dylan had dumped Kate again and made his move on another girl. Edward and Bella got along like old friends and I came to think that Rose and I could be something like best friends some day.

The whole week was like a bit from a movie and we had nice weather all the time, which shouldn't be possible since we were in Forks. Edward explained to me then that once the weather gets bad, the school puts up their own sky. We have nice weather all the time, but in reality, it's raining.

Alice thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to go shopping and dragged us all along on Saturday. We were all so tired afterward that we went to sleep at seven in the evening and didn't wake up until twelve on the next day.

All in all, I was really starting to enjoy myself here and I felt like life couldn't get any better than that, although classes were insanely boring.

Little did I know back then that all the good things come to an end.

In my case it was a very bad end.

* * *

_**A/N:**_** Okay that's it! Did y'all like it, love it, hate it? Doesn't really matter to me I had fun writing it. I just feel a bit weird about Chris' arachnophobia... but my dearest beta likes it, so I guess it isn't really that horrible**

**Did any of you check out the FF written by myself and You And Me Up In A Tree? I really hope you did, because if I take too long to update, you should now what is distracting me from my work here. Well, this story is actually distracting me from my other two FFs but I'm working on that as well, it just takes a bit longer...Hmmmmm, anything else I wanna mention? Does anyone here know how to make an insanely good trailer? I think it would be soooooo cool to have a trailer made about an FF. The maker would, of course, get a special treat (a little tiny piece of the plot, or maybe some Sneak peaks from the future chapters) and would be the one person that is making my day. **

**Don't even ask me why I came up with this idea, I just felt like it, everything that is in my author's notes is just the random crap that crossed my mind in exactly this moment. And you know what, my laptop did not faint on me yet, so maybe I solved the problem:D:D Yay me! Oh yeah, please do me a favor and review, I don't think I actually have to mention that every time, do I? **


	9. Scores and Home Runs

**_A/N:_ Am I amazing, or what? I don't even know how I managed to write this chapter, because I had been far too busy, but not only did I finish this chapter, no... I'm also nearly done with the next, there just a little part missing, so you might get an update in the next few hours, if it doesn't take _You And Me Up In A Tree_ too long to finish the next chapter of our amazing story (yep, that is covert advertising). So before we start this show, I wanna thank a few people. Well, actually I wanna thank everyone who reviewed, I'm really really really thankful for that**

**Thank you to** **_Mc Alice Bones Salvatore_-** **your reviews lways make me smile and they kinda remind me of Alice for some reason...**

**Next is _justareaderfan_- as far as I know there is always a review from you and that's why I actually tried to oblige to you request. Hopefully I did a great job**

**_misssmeden_ also gets a thank you, because of the regular reviews :D:D**

**And right now my amazing Beta ( You And Me Up In A Tree) is kinda rushing me, because she wants to continue working, so I just have to stop my thank -you-speech, of course not without thanking the person just mentioned!**

**Anyway one last thank you to everyone, who is reading this story and to _C. Vanessa_ .. sorry I kinda forgot to mention Gollum but hopefully he will be mentioned in the next chapter ;D Sooo enough from me for now, see ya at the bottom**

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_Bella POV_

"Yo Chris! Wait up!" Damon's voice reached us before he did. Chris didn't even bother to turn around, but I could tell by the small smile on her face that she had heard him. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that she was falling for him. But I did know better. Didn't I?

Damon caught up with us and wedged himself between Chris and I, pushing me into Alice in the process, who was busily making out with Jasper.

"Hey!" Alice complained, prying herself from him. I didn't even know how they managed to make out while walking, but apparently the technique wasn't all that hard or unknown, considering Rose and Emmett were currently doing the same thing. The two of them were on Chris' other side, and I saw that Damon had slung his arm over her shoulder.

I sighed quietly. All of these couples around me were starting to get annoying. Dylan, Edward, and I were the only single ones in our clique. Well, Chris claimed to be single too, because she and Damon weren't officially together yet, but everyone knew better. In fact, the whole school did. Yesterday, I had discovered that Chris and I were now known as two of the most popular girls in the school. Angela had been the one to inform me of this when we worked on homework together. Hanging out with someone that was not part of the "elite" let me escape my little bubble, and I actually saw what was going on around campus for a while.

Most people didn't even bother to gossip about our heritage anymore. Instead, they were whispering about us now being part of said elites. Angela had told me that our incredible powers did the rest, but the fact that we were 'absolutely stunning' didn't do anything bad for us.

I didn't really care about being popular, but it helped explain why people still hadn't cut back whispering about us like they didn't have hobbies or problems of their own. I was really beginning to think they didn't.

Jessica Stanley, for example, was currently spreading a rumor around saying that Dylan and I were dating. I wasn't even sure how she came up with that one. Now, every time she is around, Dylan puts his arms around me and cuddles me fiercely, making me feel like some sort of stuffed animal. I didn't really mind, though, since I liked Dylan enough to allow him to have his fun while he was laughing at Jessica's expressions afterward. He found the whole situation to be hysterically funny.

Although I didn't really mind much, I had a feeling that Chris did. She didn't look particularly angry or anything even remotely close to it, but there was just something in her expression that told me she didn't like it.

I was under the impression that she may have some sort of romantic feelings for Dylan, but when I asked her, she had simply laughed and told me that I'd be better off concentrating on my feelings for Edward. I blushed when she said that, only causing her to laugh even harder.

In that moment, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, only to see the tall figures of Edward and Dylan. _Think of the Devil..._

Both of them smiled down at me in a kind manner. In my opinion, Edward's smile was much more entrancing, though.

"Hello, Bella. How come you guys are walking so slow this morning?" he asked me politely, a small glint of amusement in his smooth voice.

I quirked an eyebrow at him and gestured toward our friends. "Can't you see the happy couples?"

Edward and Dylan both looked at them, but I saw how Dylan's gaze stopped on Chris and Damon, who were making plans to meet later to do homework. Right, homework.

Dylan looked at them with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You'd think he would have already figured out that he has feelings for her by now. Not even close. He's currently wondering why none of his previous girlfriends have ever had hair as beautiful as hers," Edward whispered to me with a light chuckle. His breath left a tingly feeling on my skin, and I could feel the blood rushing into my cheeks. Luckily, Edward didn't notice.

I really wasn't sure what I would do if he ever found out about my little crush on him. He would probably laugh at me, telling me that he thought of me like a little sister. After all, I was the same age as his _little sister_. It was rather silly for me to be crushing on an older guy. That's usually something girls did in the fifth grade.

I took a deep breath and attempted to keep my thoughts as neutral as possible.

"So, are you playing baseball with us later?" Edward asked me lightly, trying to make small talk.

"Baseball?" I asked in confusion.

Apparently Alice hadn't been too busy with Jasper's lips, because she was suddenly right in front of me.

"Yes, baseball. I bought these cute baseball caps and matching shirts on Saturday, so I decided that we'd play baseball today," she piped.

"We are so not going to play baseball. I already told you that on Saturday," Chris interfered.

Why did she know about this and I didn't? I'm the one who actually pays attention to what is being said.

Edward must have noticed my confusion, because he was quick to explain. "The decision was made when the two of us were gone to get their drinks. I only know because I picked it out of their heads. Otherwise, they wouldn't have told us until today."

"I thought you didn't read minds when it wasn't necessary," Chris' voice held an accusing tone.

"I usually don't, but I can't always prevent it from happening. And also, I wanted to know the reason why you looked so pissed off."

Chris rolled her eyes and turned her gaze to me. I ignored her.

"So, are we playing baseball after school?" I asked.

Alice nodded her head in confirmation.

I sighed. I really didn't like sports.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you, and you can be on my team." Edward had placed his arm around my shoulder and was bending down so he was at eye level with me. It must have looked strange to other people, seeing him walking and bending like that.

_Flirt a little_, I heard Chris' voice in my head. I really needed to find a way to either shut her up, or shut her out.

_What am I supposed to say?_ I pushed into her head. I hoped she heard me. I saw her shrug, so I knew she did. _Nice, let me do all the work._

I quickly whipped my head around and smiled brightly at Edward. "I was hoping you would say that. I would only play if I get to play with you." As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to hit myself.

_When exactly did I start to hide double meanings in my speeches? I said a little, not forceful_, Chris scolded me.

_Oh please, spare me._

Edward immediately straighted himself up and coughed awkwardly. Well, I guess I ruined any chance I may have had with him.

_Seriously, Bella, what happened to your flirting skills? Haven't I taught you better?_ Chris asked, making me giggle aloud.

Edward, who didn't know what I found so funny, was looking at me with an expression mixed with the same awkwardness, and some confusion.

I shook my head at him. "You better be a good teacher. I want to beat Chris," I informed him.

He nodded with a small grin etched on his face.

"Okay guys, count me in. I don't care who's on my team, but I don't wanna wear pink," Dylan said and took off.

All of us looked after him for a moment before stepping into the school building. Edward and Emmett had to take off as well, heading toward their own classes. I wasn't really excited about classes today, but I couldn't change it, now could I?

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Physical changes are not necessary nor common. If you are one of the rare few with physical attributes that come with your gift, then you may have already noticed them. Others may still have some to come, though. But most of you will stay the way you are. There aren't very many gifts that change one's appearance; it's rather rare." Mr. Decour was lecturing about the physical changes that could come along with our gifts.

Apparently there was one guy in the senior class who had a greenish tint to his skin because his power was to let plants grow out of him. I found it rather fascinating. Chris, on the other hand, mumbled something that sounded like 'freak.'

If I hadn't seen our childhood pictures, I never would have believed that Chris and I were actually twins. A thought passed my mind and I immediately raised my hand and started bouncing up and down in my seat to make sure Mr. Decour noticed me.

"Yes, Ms. Swan?" he asked. His voice was void of the annoyance it usually held when he was talking to Chris.

"Is it possible to start changing before the powers have actually developed?" I asked excitedly.

Chris eyed me in wonder, but two seconds later, I practically heard the click in her head.

"Yes, it happens. For some, it is required that they physically change before their gifts become active enough for them to use," he explained. "Is there any specific reason you asked?"

"It's actually quite simple. Once upon a time, Bella-" Chris started, but was interrupted by Mr. Decour.

"I don't remember asking you," he stated, effectively silencing Chris. She was sitting with her arms crossed and a fierce glare set on her face, directed at him. He rolled his eyes and gestured for me to continue.

"Well, Chris and I are identical twins and we used to look exactly the same. When we were about eight years old, we started to change, and eventually we looked nearly nothing like we had before. Chris changed more than I did, though," I rushed the words. When Mr. Decour did nothing but stare at me, I wondered if he had actually heard what I said.

"What physical attributes changed?" he asked.

"Not much for me. My hair may have turned a shade or two lighter, but Chris' eyes changed and her hair turned black," I answered.

Mr. Decour seemed thoughtful. "Do you think you could bring me pictures of you two from back then, and from today so I can compare them? We will discuss these changes in class."

"Sure," Chris answered before I could protest.

I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off by the shrill of the bell.

I didn't even get the chance to complain to Chris because she was in a hurry to take off since she still needed to clean her room before she and Damon "learned" in there.

I slowly made my way to my room with the others. The walk was filled with meaningless chatter, and when we parted ways in front of the houses, Alice promised me that they would be there with the shirts in about an hour.

"Hey Bella. Do you have a minute?" I heard a sickly sweet voice.

I looked up and straight into the eyes of Irina Milian.

"What for?" I sighed.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime?" Irina was still smiling, and this somehow unsettled me. I didn't dislike her or anything, but I had never been under the impression that she liked me.

"Now?"

"Well, if you're busy, I understand. Maybe I could join you for lunch tomorrow?" she suggested.

"Um, I wouldn't mind, as long as everyone else agrees to it," I replied slowly. Why had she all of a sudden decided to talk to me?

"Okay, cool. I'll talk to you later." She walked off with a small wave, the smile still plastered on her face.

I shook my head at her.

Suddenly, I was pushed by someone.

"Hey! Watch where-" I started, but the person interrupted.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't see you," Damon said. He seemed to be out of breath as he spoke.

"Where are you rushing to?" I asked with a knowing smile.

"He's late for his 'learning session' with Chris," Dean answered as he appeared behind Damon. He did air quotes around 'learning session' which made me giggle a little.

Damon threw an annoyed glance at both of us. "We are really going to learn. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes. Especially when Chris doesn't need to learn," I answered.

Damon rolled his eyes at me.

_Damon POV_

"I know she doesn't. But I do, and she promised to help me with Biology," I answered. I wasn't even sure why I was going as far as explaining myself to them, but I was.

"Biology, huh?" Dean asked with a suggestive tone in his voice, waggling his eyebrows.

I sighed in defeat. There was really no point for me to continue defending myself. Dean had been teasing me for a while now and it seemed like he would never get tired of it. I didn't know if the fact that Chris and I had never kissed escaped his attention. Well, we did kiss like twice, but he wasn't around on either occasion, so he wouldn't really know.

Now it was Bella's turn to roll her eyes as she nudged Dean softly in the side. She turned to me and said, "Good luck, then. Chris can be a harsh tutor."

I flashed her a quick grin and took off.

Hopefully Chris wouldn't be pissed at me. I was already fifteen minutes late. Although I could hardly imagine her sitting there, waiting anxiously for my arrival.

When I finally made it to her room, I was quick to knock lightly on the door.

"Come in," I heard her voice yell from the other side.

I opened the door and stepped in. My eyes roamed around the room for her. I couldn't see her anywhere. "Chris?" I asked carefully. I had just heard her a moment ago. Maybe I imagined it...

"Here!" she said as she jumped up from behind her bed and gave me a bright smile.

"What were you doing behind your bed?" I asked with a light chuckle. She looked a little frazzled and worked up. Her hair was slightly ruffled and her face looked a little flushed.

"I just dropped my phone," she answered. "You're late you know." She gestured for me to sit on her bed where she already had all of her books piled.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Dean was going on and on about how I was 'totally whipped'," I explained with an eye roll as I took the offered seat.

Chris sat down on her bed, crossing her legs in a swift motion. I wasn't sure if she realized how absolutely entrancing her movements were. The way she moved was so unlike other girls. Bella was the same in that prospect. Chris' movements were sort of sensual in a way, while Bella moved very gracefully.

I enjoyed watching Chris move.

She giggled a little. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

I nodded and stopped thinking about her movements, deciding to instead concentrate on the subject at hand.

Bella had been right about Chris. She was a rather difficult tutor. Not because she was doing a bad job, but because she was suddenly throwing around words that I didn't even know existed in her vocabulary. She didn't exactly give off the 'brainiac' vibe.

After an hour of hard work, we were finally done and I sunk back on her bed and let out a deep breath. That had been extremely exhausting. I closed my eyes and let myself relax a little. Chris didn't say anything, but I heard as she moved the books from her bed and crawled over to where I was. When I opened my eyes, I saw her face right in front of mine, her honey-like eyes glowing slightly.

"What?" I asked, feeling a little bit self-conscious.

"Nothing," she answered lightly and straddled my hips in a quick movement. My heart beat quickened, even though she wasn't really doing anything. She just leaned against my legs and looked down at me with a rather thoughtful expression on her beautiful face.

"What's on your mind?" I asked her softly.

"I was thinking whether or not you deserve to be my boyfriend," Chris stated with a small smile on her lips.

Looking at her lips made me instinctively lick my own, since they suddenly felt dry. That girl was just too hot for her own good. The corners of her mouth twitched and I wondered what she might have seen on my face. I gazed into her eyes again and found her looking at me with a fond expression on her face.

Without really thinking, I sat halfway up and pulled her a little closer to me and brought my lips onto hers. For a second, she didn't respond. But then she began kissing me back, her soft and smooth lips moving against my own. She exerted so much force that I actually fell back on the bed again. Her hair created a curtain around us, and while I enjoyed her sweet taste, I was also able to inhale a fruity and exotic scent that was naturally her. My hands travelled down her upper body, but at one point, she quivered and a small giggle made it's way through her lips causing her to pull away from me.

"You tickled me," she said with a hint of accusing in her voice.

"I'm sorry," I said, laughing a little. She didn't really seem to me like the type of person who was that ticklish.

"You just ruined the moment."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

She just rolled her eyes and leaned down toward me again, stopping about an inch in front of my face and gazing at me intently. Her warm breath was blowing across my face.

"Well now that you know my weakest spot, I either have to kill you or make you my boyfriend," she whispered seriously.

"I prefer the latter."

"Damn. I was looking forward to-Ah, whatever, this is just as good," she said with a small shrug and kissed me again. Her hands went to my hair and started tugging on it a little. A small hiss escaped my mouth, which Chris seemed to enjoy, since I felt the smile on her lips as she pulled harder. Who know that pain could be so good?

I slowly traced her bottom lip with my tongue, asking her for entrance, which she immediately granted. The second our tongues met, she arched her back and pressed her small warm body flush against me.

Of course our intense moment was quickly interrupted by someone bursting through the door.

Out of reflex, I sat up instantly. But since Chris had been on top of me, she fell.

_Bella POV_

"Bella, you're on my team," Emmett sang, picking me up from behind and nearly scaring me to death. He had a very bad habit of bursting into people's rooms without knocking. I remember one time, I was rummaging through my drawers in search of a hairband, when suddenly, I was being lifted up from behind.

"Put me down you big fool. Didn't anyone ever tell you that you have to knock _before_ you enter someones room?" I asked him with obvious annoyance in my voice.

Emmett put me back on the ground and looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry Bells, I just get overly excited," he mumbled. He looked so much like a little kid that was being scolded for stealing cookies. I could hardly be annoyed with him or mad at him. He was just too adorable, even if he was twice my size.

"Em, you really are impossible, but I'm glad to hear that you're on my team." I laughed.

The others had entered my room as well, and Alice threw a blue striped shirt at me. I saw that it was the same as the ones Emmett, Edward, and Rosalie were wearing.

Dylan, Jasper, and Alice were wearing the same shirt, but in pink, and everyone had on matching baseball caps.

"Put that on and we'll go drag your sister along," Alice told me.

Since I was only wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans, I simply pulled the shirt on quickly. When my head was no longer blocked by the fabric of the top, I saw that Rose was suddenly by my side, putting the cap on my head.

"Let's go and get the other Swan!" Emmett exclaimed, rushing out of the room before anyone else had the chance to follow.

I sighed, but decided to go anyway. When we got to Emmett, no one had the chance to say anything before he opened Chris' door with a loud bang.

The sight in front of us was...well, different.

Chris and Damon had been intensely making out on her bed, but Emmett's entrance had made Damon sit up abruptly, which in turn threw Chris off of him and the bed because they had been fairly close to the edge.

I pressed my lips tightly together and tried my hardest not to laugh at the expression that came over Chris' face when she was back in sight.

"Damn Chris," Emmett said. "Home runs before the game even starts? Nice." That was what made me crack. I couldn't contain my laughter anymore and it burst out of me.

I laughed so hard that I somehow managed to fall backwards. I didn't notice that I had until a set of warm, strong arms caught me.

The chuckle that left Edward's mouth was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. It was obviously not the first time I'd heard him laugh, but I was fascinated by the sound each and every time.

He smiled kindly down at me while he steadied me. I saw Alice looking at us with wide eyes. What was her problem? I threw her a questioning glance, but she didn't give me any sort of answer.

"Ow, Rosie!" I heard Emmett's whining voice complain. Rosalie had smacked him on the head because of his stupid comment.

"You're lucky that I only smacked your head, Emmett. I don't even want to know what Chris is going to do to you," Rose replied dryly.

Everyone turned their eyes to Chris. She was shooting death glares at Emmett while rubbing the back of her head.

"I think I'll just go now," Damon said slowly, looking back and forth between Chris and Emmett before he quickly jumped off the bed. He pushed passed me and I watched his retreating figure.

Chris might kill him later for disappearing like that.

"Come on, guys, let's go play. We need to score a couple of times to catch up with Chris," Edward said. He put his arm around me and led me outside. It was nothing more than a friendly gesture, but I still couldn't hold back the blush that covered my face.

Edward poked my cheek lightly. "Why are you blushing?" He chuckled, his eyes twinkling a bit.

"I'm not blushing. It's just a little hot in here," I said lamely.

Edward laughed and played with a strand of my hair. "You know, you're kinda cute," he told me.

Suddenly Dylan's head appeared between us. "Ah, young love. Watching it bloom makes my heart melt," he cooed.

"Shut up," Edward told him, then hit him on the back of his head.

"Ouch! Bella, maybe you should look for a new boyfriend. This one here is far too violent," Dylan told me quickly before Edward hit him again.

I sighed and shook my head when the two of them started chasing each other. Whoever said that older guys were more mature had obviously been lying.

"So, Bella. Is there something you want to tell us?" Alice hooked her arm through mine as Chris did the same on the other side. Rose put her arms around me from behind and all of them looked at me expectantly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked them in confusion. Sometimes I really didn't get them.

"You like Edward," Rose stated bluntly.

"What?" I screeched.

Emmett and Jasper, who had been walking in front of us, turned around. Emmett let out a loud, booming laugh.

Jasper only said, "No point in denying it. Your sister and I have proof."

"Oooh!" Alice squealed, then started gushing. "The two of you would make such a cute couple. Oh and you'll get married and then you'll be my sister-in-law and-" I cut her off.

"No one is going to marry anyone. Where do you get these crazy ideas? I don't really like Edward that way, it's just a silly little crush. It'll go away," I informed them in a steady, reasonable voice.

"Sure. You keep telling yourself that," Chris sang, then looked at her nails.

"Why are you all of a sudden hassling me? Can't you guys annoy Chris?" I asked desperately, and slightly angry.

"Alice had a vision of you and Edward kissing." Rose blew into my ear.

I shivered slightly and felt as a blush started creeping up my face. I quickly looked down and let my hair hide my face, but the others had already seen it.

Alice chuckled evilly. "So the thought of kissing Edward makes you blush, huh? Are you _sure_ that you don't like him?"

The blush on my face deepened. "Even if I did like him, he doesn't like me in the way, so what's the big deal?" I mumbled.

"Ah ha! She admitted it," Rose exclaimed, letting go of me.

"Oh yay! The wedding is going to be so great! And I can-" Once again, Alice was getting carried away.

"Did you not even listen when I said that Edward is _not_ interested in me?" I sighed.

"Hey Bella, hurry up! You want me to show you how to play or not?" Edward's voice came from a big, empty field where he stood waving at me.

"Coming!" I shouted back.

"Suuure he's not interested in you," Alice said with a knowing smile.

I rolled my eyes at her but didn't say anything as I jogged off toward Edward.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"This was officially the most exhausting baseball game ever," Edward whispered. He was so out of breath that it hardly even came out, though. He collapsed on the ground beside Dylan who didn't look like he would move ever again.

"I'm never running again for the rest of my life. Not even an inch." I crawled to where Edward was and leaned against his legs.

"Next time, I decide what we're going to do," Rose said as she collapsed on top of Emmett.

Chris was laying next to them with her face buried into the cool grass. Her voice was muffled and exhausted as she mumbled, "Or we should at least make up some rules."

Jasper was sitting next to her and looked like he was close to passing out. The poor guy had to handle the exhaustion of all of us.

"I think it was fun. We should do this again some time." Alice was jumping up and down, clapping her hands in excitement.

How was she not tired? I don't think she even sweat at all.

The whole game had started out normal. Chris and I soon discovered that we were actually pretty good. The game changed when I discovered that I was indeed capable of using telekinesis. I didn't use it intentionally the first time. If the ball had been an inch closer to me, I would have caught it. I had been desperately wishing that it would somehow land in my hand, and was rather surprised when it did.

After that, the whole game changed. Alice began predicting many of the moves that we were going to make, Jasper spread wave after wave of insecurity around, and Dylan was manipulating our minds. As if that wasn't enough, Edward had decided to switch his mind reading on and use his enhanced speed, while Emmett used his ability for the first time in front of me.

The others told me that it was called phasing. Emmett was able to go through solid objects and so he simply vanished into the ground and reappeared at last base before anyone even noticed. Dylan beamed as well. All in all, Emmett, Dylan and Edward were rather quick in getting home runs. That was, until Chris and I began experimenting with our powers.

Chris managed to throw the ball with inhuman speed, and even if someone were able to get it, they couldn't touch it for a while because it was too hot. She also figured out that the fire could give her speed, so she was flying past everyone in a hot flash, leaving a burning trail behind her.

I found out that playing on grass was a plus for me. I was able to use my ability to move the water out of the grass and surf on it. I only found that out because when I transformed into my water state, the water around me seemed to be automatically attracted to me. It was like the water couldn't be without me when I was in that state.

By the time I was done, the grass was completely dehydrated. I had to rehydrate it by forcing the water that I had absorbed away from me and pushing it back into the grass.

And as if that wasn't all enough, Rosalie simply dazed all of us and strutted from one base to the next and none of us interfered.

Overall I'd say this had been the strangest baseball game in the history of time. I wasn't even sure who really won the game.

"We won," Edward informed me weakly.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten that at some point during the game, I managed to remove my shield so that Edward could read my mind. It was rather helpful for the team, but now I didn't want him to read my mind anymore.

"Why not? I enjoy your thoughts. They're different than everybody elses," Edward said.

There was a very simple reason as to why I didn't want him to read my mind, and as soon as that thought crossed my mind, the shield slammed back into place, making Edward flinch.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

Edward smiled weakly at me, showing me he wasn't mad.

"Guys, how do we get back to our houses if none of us can even move?" Chris mumbled into the ground. I wondered if she was eating dirt.

"Emmett will carry me," Rose answered. Emmett didn't look too keen on the idea, but one look from Rose had him nodding his head as if he couldn't think of anything better.

"And Jazzy will carry me," Alice said happily.

"You're not even tired, Alice," Jasper said. His voice sounded almost like he was whining.

Alice pouted and her eyes began tearing up as she batted her eyelashes at him. "Please?" she asked in a small voice.

Jasper sighed in defeat.

"Well then I guess I have to carry you, Bella," Edward said.

"No, you don't have to. I can walk myself. It would only be unfair to bother you with my weight-"

"Chill, Bella. First of all, you're not that heavy, and second, I just volunteered. Suck it up and say 'thank you'." He sent me a teasing smile.

"Fine. But if you collapse on the way, you'll have the crawl home. Once you've committed to this, you're in it for a lifetime," I told him in a deep voice.

He laughed and got up to pull me to my feet. "I will not rest until you have made it safely to your room," he said with a small bow. He stayed bent so I could climb onto his back.

I grinned at Alice, who was sitting on Jasper's back, and she gave me that same knowing smile.

"Don't even think about me carrying you," Dylan told Chris, who had finally pulled herself up off the ground. She didn't even pay attention to him, since she was too busy dusting herself off. "Did you even hear what I said?" Dylan asked in annoyance.

"Yes, I did, but I'm ignoring you," she replied as she pushed passed him.

Jasper and Emmett appeared beside me and Edward.

"You think they're starting again?" Jasper asked.

"Hopefully," Emmett answered with a huge grin. The two of them enjoyed the fights between Dylan and Chris too much.

I would have said something to them, but I was too distracted by a sudden sensation. Edward's hands were on my legs, holding me close so that I wouldn't fall off, and this excited me far more than it should have.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" I heard Chris' annoyed voice. She and Dylan were walking in front of us. Their faces held no trace of their earlier exhaustion.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Dylan asked sweetly.

"Because I asked you to."

"So you want to deny me the chance to talk to a beautiful girl?"

"Do you said that to every girl you want to screw?"

"I-What? I don't want to screw you." Dylan sounded completely opposed to the idea.

"Are you sure about that?" Chris asked nonchalantly.

"Why are we always having this discussion?"

"Because I like it."

"You like talking about sex? Or are you, in reality, trying to get into _my_ pants, but you twist it to make it seem like I'm the guilty one."

"Oh my God, Dylan. You've figured me out. We'll just completely ignore the fact that I have a boyfriend," Chris said in mock surprise.

"Boyfriend? Since when is he your boyfriend?" I piped.

"Probably since they hooked up today," Dylan answered for her. I thought I detected something along the lines of anger in his voice.

It seemed that Chris noticed it too. "What? Are you angry because you're not getting any?" she asked him.

Dylan didn't answer her, which only made her smile victoriously.

Little did she know.

Somehow, the walk back felt like it was ten times longer than the walk there. I felt my eyes wanting to close and the sleep trying to get to me. I fought it as best as I could, but failed miserably.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Bella, wake up," a musical voice said. The sound was so beautiful I was certain that I must be dreaming.

"No," I mumbled, snuggling closer to the warm body. I heard the lovely voice sigh and a moment later, I was no longer close to the warmth - that I assumed was Edward - I had previously felt. Instead, I was laying on a soft pillow, which was nearly as good as Edward. But I really didn't want him to go. What kind of dream would that be?

"Bella, please let go of my shirt. I want to sleep, too," I heard Edward say, his words slightly muffled from a yawn. His sweet breath washed over my face.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Edward's face hovering over mine. I hadn't realized that I had grabbed his shirt by the collar until now. I figured that I probably grabbed him and pulled him close to me.

"Awake now?" he asked me with a slightly teasing smile on his face.

I looked at his features and marveled at his perfection. His perfectly angled nose, his strong jaw, his fully delicious-looking lips and entrancing emerald green eyes. As I gazed into his sparkling eyes, something in me flicked my rational thinking off. Before I could even make sense of my actions, I pulled him closer and kissed him. Once our lips met, I felt an electrical jolt go through me once again. It was increased when I felt Edward moving his lips against mine. He pressed himself closer to me and his hand snaked behind my head, sliding into my hair. The kiss was filled with so much intensity, confusion, passion...

And then suddenly, he stiffened. I didn't know what was wrong when Edward abruptly pulled away.

"Don't do that again," he said stiffly as he got up from my bed.

All of the happy feelings that had filled me instantly vanished. I had been right all along. Edward wasn't interested in me. I should have known that he would _never_ go for someone as plain as me. For some reason, this realization made me incredibly upset and I felt tears beginning to fill my eyes. I blinked a few times to prevent them from falling, then looked up at Edward, who was standing there, looking at me.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I just thought that you might-"

"No, I'm sorry Bella." Edward knelt down beside my bed and wiped away the tears that had escaped despite my effort. "I probably mislead you into thinking that I feel the same way about you. But the truth is, I don't. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I love you, I do, but as a sister. You're a beautiful, sweet, nice girl, and I'm so sorry if I hurt your feelings," he said in a quiet, soothing voice. The soothing wasn't helping me at all.

But I put on my brave face and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll live. It's just a silly crush, anyway. It will pass soon, so it's not like it's that big of a deal." I gave him a watery smile. I was convinced that this was just a crush, but if that's the truth, then why is there such an ache in my chest?

It was obvious that my heart wasn't as aware of things like I was, so I chose to ignore it.

Edward gave me a tight smile and pressed his lips to my forehead. "Let's just forget about this, okay? Try to get some sleep. Who knows? Maybe you're not even really awake yet." With that said, he left my room and I was finally free to cry.

As the tears poured down my cheeks, I thought about the pain I felt. Maybe it was just because I wasn't good with rejection and everything would be splendid in the morning.

Eventually I was able to fall into a dreamless slumber. It didn't go undisturbed, though, because every now and then, I felt little bursts of excitement come from Chris. Knowing that she was happy made me smile, despite what had just occurred, and made me sleep even better.

Who cares if Edward doesn't want me? I still have Chris.

_Edward POV_

"Oh, how cute. Bella fell asleep," Alice cooed.

I rolled my eyes at her. It was a mystery to me why she was the only one here who wasn't tired at all. I turned my gaze to Bella and found that she was indeed sleeping. She looked like an angel with the small smile playing on her lips. It made me wonder what she was dreaming about. She started mumbling something in her sleep, but it was too quiet for me to hear. She was really adorable.

For some reason, she had just grown on me faster than any other person ever has. I cared about her just as much as I cared about my other friends, but sometimes it felt like I cared about her a little more. It was like she was family or something. It would make sense to think of her as my sister, that's what Rose was to me, and same with Alice. Bella and Chris had managed to become solid fixtures in our little family and I enjoyed their presence very much.

"I'm gonna go bring Bella to her room. See ya," I told the others when we arrived at the blue house. They just gave me dismissive waves as I entered the house.

By the time I reached her room, I was ready to pass out. I just wanted to get home and into my bed as fast as possible.

"Bella, wake up," I said softly to her, shaking her shoulder slightly.

The only answer I received was a mumbled, "No," before she snuggled closer to me. For some strange reason, the closeness pleased me far more than it should have. I pushed that thought aside for now. I was tired and would probably accept cuddling anyone right about now.

I sighed and managed to maneuver Bella onto her bed. As soon as I let go of her, her hand reached out and quickly grabbed the collar of my shirt, effectively pulling me closer to her. Now we were face-to-face. It was weird, but looking at her like that made my heart feel warm.

Her eyes were still closed and she would have looked perfectly peaceful if there hadn't been a small frown dawning her face. She looked adorable nonetheless. I suddenly felt like I could have sat there and watched her sleep forever if I hadn't been tired myself.

"Bella, please let go of my shirt. I want to sleep, too," I told her with a yawn.

Bella finally seemed to be aware of what was happening and slowly opened her eyes. The deep pools of milk chocolate never ceased to amaze me. The emotions that I felt were confusing me a little, but it was probably just some sort of brotherly love that I was developing for her. What else could it be? She was younger than me and I had never been interested in younger girls, not even the slightest bit. And I certainly wasn't going to start now.

"Awake now?" I asked with a small smile, caused by the slightly disoriented expression on her face.

She looked at me with wide eyes for a few moments. When her eyes flicked to mine, her expression faded into one of awe. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, she pulled me to her and pressed her lips to mine. _Warm, soft, deliciously sweet lips._ The electrical jolt that I felt numerous times in her presence flowed through me, lighting my whole body. Her lips were demanding against mine and I couldn't help but kiss her back. As the electricity increased, I pressed myself as close as I could to her small, warm body, wanting to close the barely-there distance between us. I didn't understand the urge, but it was obvious that my rational thinking was switched off. I slid my hand into her soft, shiny hair and for the first time, I noticed a sweet smell coming from her. It was like vanilla, honeysuckle, and strawberry all together.

Strawberry...strawberry blonde.

I froze for an instantly, then quickly pulled back.

"Don't do that again," I said as sternly as I could, unsure of what else I could say.

Bella wasn't the type of girl I usually dated. She was younger than them and just so sweet and innocent. There was absolutely no way I could think of her in that way. _She just caught me by surprise_. Yes, that was it. After all, she was like a little sister to me.

I was no longer on Bella's bed, but standing next to it, since I had been occupied with arranging my confused thoughts.

I looked at her and saw her eyeing me with a sad expression on her face. Her eyes were filled with tears and I felt so bad for what I had just done. It was completely out of line for me to kiss her back. It was wrong. A mistake. I shouldn't have done it.

"I'm sorry," she murmured quietly. "I just thought that you might-"

"No, I'm sorry Bella." I knelt down beside her bed and wiped her face to get rid of the salty water running down her cheeks from her eyes. "I probably mislead you into thinking that I feel the same way about you. But the truth is, I don't. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I love you, I do, but as a sister. You're a beautiful, sweet, nice girl, and I'm so sorry if I hurt your feelings." I tried to make my voice sound as reasonable and soothing as I could to stop her tears.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, seemingly to calm herself. When she opened her eyes again, her face was void of any emotion or expression.

"Don't worry about it, I'll live. It's just a silly crush, anyway. It will pass soon, so it's not like it's that big of a deal," she said, giving me a smile through her tears. It stung to see her like this, but there was nothing I could do.

I gave her a smile, trying to make it as kind as I could, then kissed her on the forehead. "Let's just forget about this, okay? Try to get some sleep. Who knows? Maybe you're not even really awake yet." I turned and left her room.

I stood in front of her door for a while, taking deep breaths and trying to force myself to forget about the kiss. But my lips were still a burning reminder of it. I couldn't help but replay it in my head over and over again.

"What are you doing here?" someone asked from behind me. It was Damon. I figured he was probably on his way to see Chris. He was carrying a small bag and looking at me in surprise.

"I just, um, brought Bella to her room. She fell asleep," I told him, then smiled slightly before walking away as humanly fast as I could.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Sooo...? Did I do well? I seriously tried hard to write a somewhat good chapter... I hope I made everyone happy and if someone is unhappy or confused just tell me**

**Well, now I'm off to work on my other master piece and I might wanna update my other two FFs now, so this is it from me for now:D**


	10. In the Shadows Happen Strange Things

**_A/N:_ Okay, so I didn't take just a few hours to update again, but even an amazing Beta like mine (You And Me Up In A Tree, you should know the name by now) has to take a break once in a while. Plus I fell asleep on her yesterday-.-. Right now I'm totally hyper, because I got an Alice haircut :D Bet ya'll are jealous now :P**

**For once I don't really have much to say, I think... no I really don't have anything to say**

_**Disclaimer:**_** So what if I don't own Twilight? I own Chris and Dylan and a lot more amazing characters in _The Prophecy of the Elemental Phoenix_, read it and be jealous that I own amazing characters like these (of course I'm sharing them with my business partner/ Beta)**

* * *

_Third POV_

The room was dark. The only illumination was the dim sunlight glittering lowly through the large French windows.

The man was looking through one of the windows. He gazed at a rather large part of the school compound. His office was on one of the upper floors, granting him the ability to watch the daily activities happening around the academy. Normally there was nothing very interesting to see, but the arrival of the Swan twins had made it much more fascinating to watch.

He still didn't see any more than he had before, but now he would occasionally see Isabella and Christabel walking around with their friends without a care in the world. Watching them from afar made him want to reach his hands out and grab them. But he would have to be patient. He had been waiting so many years for them, what was a few more weeks or months? He had been faster with finding them and he was nearly ready to claim what he felt was rightfully his.

The entrance of two people pulled the man out of his thoughts.

He looked at both the man and the woman who had entered. The man was wearing entirely black attire which perfectly match his dark hair. His skin, although not black, had a slightly grey tint to it which was more than likely an effect of his ability. He was quietly wandering around in the shadows most of the time, and eventually he became one himself.

The woman was quite the opposite of him. She was not gorgeous, but she was definitely pretty. Beautiful, even. Her face was one that people didn't forget easily.

"Master," they greeted in unison as they bowed.

"What information do you have for me today, Blossom?" the dark figure by the window asked in a gentle voice.

"I'm afraid that I could not get through properly today, Master, but I have secured myself a way in for tomorrow," the woman answered calmly.

"I suppose that is a nice start. I want you and Shadow to anaylze and monitor their each and every step. I want daily updates. We must know how their abilities progress and more importantly, we need to know what they want. You will have to try to get as much information as you possibly can," their Master continued to speak in his dangerously calm voice.

"Yes, Master," they complied, making their Master smile pleasantly.

The moment he had been waiting for was finally coming closer. All he had to do now was wait.

And wait he would.

_Bella POV_

My alarm went off too early for my taste, blaring it's obnoxiously repetative beeping loudly. The baseball game from yesterday had been so exhausting, and I had one of the most horrible dreams ever.

Oh how I wish that it had been only a dream.

As soon as I sat up, my head began throbbing again. I only ever got this kind of headache after having cried for a long period of time. So it really hadn't been a dream. I'd actually kissed Edward and he rejected me.

Instead of feeling sad about it like I wanted to, I tried to think of reasonable ways to deal with it.

I needed a distraction. And who would be better for that than Chris?

I got out of my bed and made my way to her room. I knocked on the door, but was greeted with no answer. Through the bond, I felt calm happiness, so I was sure she was still sleeping.

I quietly opened her door and saw that she was laying under the covers. Her bed was in a complete disarray. The pillows were scattered everywhere, so I could hardly even see her.

I stepped silently over to her window to open the curtains. On my way, I passed the other side of her bed and saw her peaceful face peeking out.

Well, I was going to disturb that peace now.

I pushed the curtains open, effectively letting the sun shine brightly through the glass.

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty!" I cheered.

Chris attempted to open her eyes, but ended up squeezing them shut again as soon as her retinas made contact with the sunlight. She turned away from me and the window and snuggled deeper into her blanket.

"Get up or you're going to be late," I told her. I went over to her bed and stripped the blanket away from her.

That's when I realized that she hadn't been alone.

Damon had been hidden under the blanket with what seemed like hundreds of pillows burying him, so I hadn't seen him when I originally entered the room. He was still fast asleep, laying there in nothing but his boxers.

Chris was simply wearing a pair of sleeping shorts and a bra. Instead of getting up, she drapped a leg over his hip and snuggled closer to him.

For some reason, this made me angry. No, not angry. Jealous.

My sister was here, laying half-naked with a guy that she wanted and who wanted her in return. She hadn't been rejected like I had and didn't have to fear that he wasn't interested in her. She didn't kiss the one guy that she wanted the most and then get told that she was just a sister to him. She was handed the guy on a silver platter.

This realization didn't do anything to improve my mood. I didn't mind that Chris had a boyfriend, in fact, I was happy for her, but I needed her to comfort me right now. I wanted her to tell me that men are just a mistake in evolution, and if I don't plan on having children, I don't need them. That was what she usually told me when I was lovesick of any kind.

But now she was laying in the arms of the boy she wanted, perfectly content, having exactly what I couldn't have.

I stomped out of her room and made sure to slam her door shut as loud as I possibly could.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Bella, what's wrong?" Chris asked me as we sat down for breakfast.

After I had made my dramatic exit from her room, she threw Damon out and we got ready together. I was still in a horrible mood and I hadn't told her the reason why yet. What actually surprised me was that she hadn't picked it out of my head yet.

"Please tell me," she begged, "I only want to help."

I sighed in defeat and opened my mouth to tell her, when the D's appeared and sat down at the table with us.

"Good morning, ladies," Dean greeted as he sat down beside me, flashing me a bright smile.

I sighed again. Why couldn't I just like him? He was a perfectly normal boy who was my age, and he seemed to be interested in me. But of course, I just have to like the guy who's older and doesn't like me as anything more than a sister.

I gave him a weak smile back and cursed whatever force invented the workings of emotion.

"Did ya miss me?" Damon asked Chris sweetly, planting a tender kiss upon her cheek.

If she would have answered him in some kind of lovey dovey manner, I probably would've left the room. But she didn't. Her eyes were still focused on me as she studied me with a worried expression on her face.

To answer Damon's question, she slowly shook her head, giving Dean and Dario a reason to laugh at him.

The others were already waiting outside for us. Apparently today everyone decided to walk together. It did absolutely nothing to improve my mood. Aside from Chris, who had Damon's arm around her shoulder, there was also Rose and Alice with Emmett and Jasper. That right there was enough to put me in a foul mood, but to top it all off, _he_ just had to be standing right there, smiling at me like nothing had even happened last night.

And that did it. So maybe it wasn't just some stupid crush that would go away soon, because then I wouldn't be reacting this way. But in this moment, I simply didn't care what it was that made my heartache like this. All I knew was that it was Edward's fault, and to protect myself from even more pain, I had to stay away from him.

So when I saw him there, giving me that careless smile and Alice greeted me with her usual overly cheerful manner, I simply spun on my heels and stomped away.

"Hey, Bella! Wait for us!" Alice called, hurrying with the others to catch up to me.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Emmett asked with a booming laugh.

"Leave me alone, Emmett," I growled. "Otherwise I'm going to twist your panties." Dylan and Chris chuckled quietly at that.

"Come on, Bella, you should be excited. Today we have Specialized Magic with Edward, Emmett, and Dylan," Alice told me.

That wasn't something to be excited over, but I stopped glaring for a second and looked at her questioningly.

"Apparently Mr. Decour decided that we need some motivation to see how far we may be able to go with our powers some day. For that purpose, he chose a few black scarfs to demonstrate their powers for us. Isn't that exciting?" Alice squealed like a little girl getting the brand new Barbie doll.

I huffed and returned to my bad mood, increasing my speed a little more than before.

"Whatever," I answered."

Now even Alice seemed to get that I was not in the mood for this kind of stuff.

"Bella, what-" she started, but was cut off by Jasper.

"Alice, don't. She's too angry right now. You might end up causing a catastrophe by asking that," he spoke softly to her, his voice stating it like it was a fact. It was probably true, he was an empath after all, but all it did was make me even angrier than I had been.

The rational part of my brain was telling me that I was being absolutely ridiculous and that I shouldn't take my anger out on everyone around me, who had pretty much nothing to do with why I was angry anyway. And even though this was just a small part of my mind telling me this, I listened.

I took a deep breath and desperately searched for something that would calm me. The answer came to me as soon as I thought about it. The whispers got louder, and I so badly wanted to reach for the water. But I couldn't walk around like that right now. Somehow, I had to find a way in between. A medium.

I stared blankly ahead, ignoring everyone and everything around me as I concentrated on the water within myself. Instead of pulling it to me and embracing it like I usually did, I let it flow through my body. It filled every part of me, sending a pleasant feeling throughout my body. Now the water was present, but not visible for anyone but me.

A triumphant smile lit my face. I was really starting to get the hang of this, so much so that it felt like I had been doing this for years rather than mere weeks.

"Ah ha! So you do care." Alice appeared beside me.

"Care about what?" I asked her calmly. Right now, I felt like I was walking on clouds, far away from the others, in my own little world.

"About classes with our boys here."

"No, not really," I answered lightly, smiling at her.

"Bella, what happened?" Jasper asked suddenly.

I turned to look at his confused face. "What are you talking about?" I asked him pleasantly.

"Your mood change. One second you're filled with pure rage and anger, the next, all I get is calm. Nothing else," he answered sounding baffled.

I shrugged lightly, careless, and kept walking.

The rest of my morning went by rather peacefully. It was like I was seeing everything in a whole new light. I had already known that my vision became better when I was in my water state, but I never got the chance to enjoy it for a long amount of time. This form that I was in was perfect for me. I didn't feel anything but calm and peacefulness, and I wasn't affected by anything. It was like I was sitting in my own personal bubble. My mind was very aware of everything happening around me, but I wasn't affected emotionally.

The others seemed to sense that something was different about me. In fact, I think everybody did. People were gawking at me, and although I didn't know why, I wasn't bothered by it.

On our way to the elemental room, Rose confronted me.

"Okay, spill, Bella. What the hell happened to you? One minute you're like a raging storm, and the next, you're walking around like you're peace itself. It's like you're floating or something."

"That's exactly how I feel," I answered. "I discovered a new part of my power, and it's rather enjoyable."

"And what exactly is that?" Chris asked.

"It's hard to explain. Basically, I cut myself off of any emotions. I feel as peaceful as a still lake."

"That's a perfect description. You look like one, too," a new voice piped.

I looked at the owner of the voice. It was Irina.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge into your conversation. I couldn't help but over hear," Irina said with a kind smile. "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't forget about our lunch plans."

I nodded at her, which made her smile widen, before she left to join Tanya and Kate.

"You talk to Irina Milian?" Rose asked with disbelief written all over her face.

I shrugged. "She came up to me yesterday and started talking to me."

"She's strange," Chris said with a small frown on her face.

"And a bitch," Alice remarked.

"Why would you say that?" I asked her.

"I've never seen her act nice to someone. She actually came here a little later than others because her mom home schooled throughout elementary school. At first she was a total snob, telling all of us that we were just kids and that she didn't want anything to do with us. But then Tanya came into our class, because she had been sick with something for a year, and they became friends. Tanya's already a little older than the average age for her former class, and now that she's one year behind...well, she's two years older than us. Her best friend since elementary is Kate Olden. She's not as bitchy as the other two, but hanging out with them makes her lose a few sympathy points," Alice finished.

"Huh," was my careless reply. Just then, I noticed something. The three of them weren't walking to the building where our classes were.

"Where are they going?" Chris asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Oh, our class is outside on the field today," Jasper said.

All of the students were sitting on the grass in one huge circle. Everyone was waiting for the lesson to start. Mr. Decour walked around the circle once, then started speaking to the class. Even though we were outside, his voice reached my ears loud and clear.

"Today we'll be doing something more like combat training. That doesn't mean that we, as a school, encourage fighting, but it will help you all with your powers. I'll set you up with a suitable partner, but before we begin, there are rules that you must follow in order to participate. Remember that this isn't about hurting your partner, but defending yourself. Those of you who don't have active powers will be coming inside with me; I have something else for you all to do. These four here will be your instructors for today, and you _will_ listen to everything they say. The others, please come with me."

A few people got up and followed him, Damon being one of them. Everyone else turned their attention to the four people standing in the middle of the circle: Edward, Dylan, Emmett, and Kate.

Something inside of me moved at the sight. It couldn't have been emotion, though, because I was cut off from those, right? I still felt perfectly calm and at peace, so I suppose there was nothing to worry about.

"Okay, boys and girls. First of all, what you need is a helmet. All of you are required to wear one to prevent any damage from happening," Kate began. She was actually a pretty charismatic person when she wasn't all over Dylan. She pointed at a giant box filled with boxing helmets. "Those of you who need some kind of equipment to use their powers, come with me inside real quick."

Again, a few people rose and followed her. Emmett took the helmets and passed them around. By the time Kate returned, he was done and Edward was speaking.

"The rules of combat are pretty easy. You're not supposed to hurt your partner. In a way, it's like a game, so we will be counting points. Touching any part of your partner's body is 5 points, touching their head is 10, and making your partner fall is 20 points. If you're able to trap your partner in anyway which renders them unable to move for at least 10 seconds, you get 50 points," he explained looking at all of us.

"Kate and I will do a quick demonstration on how this should work," Emmett said.

He and Kate got into ready positions, facing one another. Edward stepped away while Dylan stayed between them and looked at each one.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

They both nodded.

"GO!" he shouted as he hastily stepped back to get out of their way.

They simply stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Then suddenly, Kate ran up to Emmett with her hand stretched out toward him. I could see small lightning bolts around her arm and I figured that would hurt if she managed to touch Emmett.

But Emmett simply sank into the ground quickly and reappeared behind her, tapping her lightly on the head with a childish grin on his face.

"10 points for Emmett," Dylan announced.

Kate swiftly turned around, moving her hand toward Emmett again. Her arm just went through his body. I could see it sticking out of his back. Meanwhile Emmett tapped her on the head again with a smug smile on his face. Kate tried to pull her arm out of Emmett, but didn't succeed.

"1, 2, 3, 4..." Dylan was looking at a stopwatch, counting seconds aloud for them to hear.

An evil smirk crossed Kate's face, and I saw little flashes on her fingertips. Emmett began shaking like he was being electrocuted, which he probably was, and Kate managed to pull her arm out of him.

"Okay, guys, that's enough," Dylan interfered. "So this fight isn't exactly how it should be done - they involved offensive, which isn't supposed to be used yet. That fight was just a demonstration for you to see what the two of them are currently learning in their junior year. But the beginning of it wasn't bad, and that's basically how we want you to work. You will be put into pairs, and then into groups of four. Each pair will fight while the other pair will count points. You can choose your group yourself, but we'll read out who your assigned partner is."

Emmett, who was holding a clipboard in his hand, began listing off names. "Melanie Adams and Alice Cullen." Alice didn't look too happy about this, but I figured it was because she wanted to be paired up with one of us. Emmett read a few more names of people who I didn't know, then he said, "Jasper Hale and Mike Newton." As far I remembered, Mike Newton had some kind of reflective shield which he couldn't even use properly. "Rosalie Hale and Shane Mastwood."

"Who is that?" Chris asked Rose.

"The guy who hypnotizes people."

"Laurent did a really good job in matching everyone up with a suitable partner," Chris remarked, and I had to agree with her.

Everyone was partnered up with someone who couldn't exactly match the power of the other, but at least one that could neutralize it or evade it easily.

"Isabella Swan and Christabel Swan."

Chris and I? Well, in a way, I guess that she was indeed my perfect opponent. Who else would be able to do it? And the fact that we could enter each other's minds made it all the more interesting.

Emmett continued reading the names off as we all waited patiently for him to finish.

When he was done, we formed a group with Rose and Shane, since Alice wanted to be in a group with Jasper.

"I think you two should start," I told them. Nobody seemed to be against it, so we moved a little further away from everyone who was still trying to find someone to work with. Chris and I sat down and watched as Rose and Shane got into position.

"Ready?" Chris asked lazily.

They both nodded.

"Go," I said softly.

Neither of them moved, they simply stood, looking into each other's eyes. I guess they were trying to work each other's powers on the other, but so far, it wasn't working. Then, they suddenly stepped closer to each other at the exact same time. It seemed like they were both influencing each other. When both of them raised their hands to strike, they seemed to realize that neither of them had full control of the other or themselves, so they stepped back into the original position. It went on like this for about two minutes, then Rose gained the upper hand. She scored a total of 70 points, while Shane only got 20.

Then, I heard a whistle. I turned and sat that it had been Kate.

"Change! Next fight," She yelled as Dylan snuck up and gave her a peck on the lips before quickly vanishing. I thought they had broken up, but apparently they're back together again.

I got up swiftly and looked at Chris.

_Let's start!_ I thought to her.

She looked at me with a strange expression, then a smile slowly spread on her features.

_I know what you're doing now,_ she told me.

_And what is that?_ I didn't even know what she was talking about, but I wasn't capable of feeling confused at the moment.

_I mean the water, you brought it to the surface without actually changing into it. I'm gonna give it a try as well._

She smiled at me, and I gave her an approving nod. Through the bond, I felt as she spread the fire inside her body just like I had earlier with the water.

Just like me, she was instantly cut off of unnecessary emotion. But she wasn't as calm and collected as I felt. While I was filled with purely good emotions that were keeping me happy and calm, she was close to the opposite. Not exactly, but very different.

The feelings that were radiating off of her were darker and constantly changing. But at the same time, she was perfectly content, and I could tell from her mind that she was still very aware of the things around her. She would still know the difference between right and wrong.

"Ready?" Rose asked.

Both of us grinned at her. She took that as a yes and told us to start.

I looked at Chris, not exactly sure of what I should do. Right now, I knew she wasn't in my head. It would only be a distraction, which is the same reason why I left her mind, too. It would be useful to know what she did next, but all of her other thoughts would be distracting and it would only make it harder to concentrate for me.

The emotional bond, however, was still strongly transmitting her feelings. She seemed to be just as unsure as I was. Suddenly, I felt deep concentration coming from her. Her nerves and the fire were slowly connecting. I flexed the water inside of me as well to do the same thing. It was only one step away from my actual water state, but I was still in my human body, even though it wasn't very human anymore, and I still looked human on the outside.

I felt how my blood turned into pure water. Even though I had never actually done this before, I still had a slight idea of how to work it.

I looked up and saw Chris' face only inches from mine. She wore a smug smile on her lips. I could tell that she was aiming for my head, but before she made contact with me, I let go of the body and felt myself dropping to the ground.

I was nothing more than water in that moment.

I flowed quickly through Chris' legs, only to change back into my former appearance on the other side of her. I tapped her on the head lightly.

"10 points," Rose announced with awe in her voice.

Now it was my turn to smile smugly at Chris.

She understood that this was now a challenge, and she was up for it instantly.

She reached for me again and I did the same thing as I had earlier, only this time when I went to tap her on the head, she vanished in a flame.

I stood there, momentarily stunned, until I felt a slight nudge on my head.

Chris had done the exact same thing that I had done to her a second ago. That's when I got it. She had probably entered my mind for a minute to see what I did, and then copied me when I vanished.

"10 points for Chris," Shane said, his voice sounded a little shocked and awed, sort of like Rosalie's had.

Chris and I began walking in a circle, each of us trying to surprise the other. I decided that I would make the first move. We were on grass, so I did the same thing that I had done at the baseball game. I pulled the water from the plants and grass to surf on. It was actually more like skating, since I moved my legs as if I was walking, only that I was being pushed forward by water.

This way, I was inhumanly fast. A normal person would have never been able to catch me or even react in time. But Chris was no ordinary person. She used her fire surfing to move out of my way quickly, but in the same second, she moved around so that she could touch my back. She was faster than she usually was, but I was able to slide out of her range so she couldn't touch me.

She may be faster, but it seemed that I was more flexible and I wasn't exactly slow either.

When she noticed that she missed me, she dug her feet into the ground and sprung up and at me. I did as I had before and simply danced away from her. She began falling, and I used that to my advantage. I reached for her leg, which was the closest part of her to me, but she did her vanishing act again. Only this time, it didn't surprise me when she appeared behind me. I countered with the same move.

It went on like that for an unknown amount of time, and neither of us had gained any more points. But it wasn't even frustrating like it would have been to most people. I was enjoying this, and I could tell that Chris was too. We were experimenting with ourselves and finding out new pieces to our abilities.

"Okay you two, that's enough," Mr. Decour's voice declared. I hadn't noticed that he'd come back.

As soon as Chris and I heard his voice, we stopped moving. I looked around and saw that the whole class was assembled around us, all of them gawking with open mouths.

"I'm very impressed with the two of you. I hadn't expected you to make progress this fast." He looked at Chris while saying that, probably referring to her more than me. "You should take a break now, you're probably exhausted."

I raised an eyebrow at him. I didn't feel exhausted at all.

"It'll come, trust me," he reassured me with a knowing smile, then turned to dismiss the rest of the class.

"That was so awesome! You two were like..." Dean came up to me, making some sort of flipping motions with his limbs that made it look like something had crawled up his pants.

"Thank you." I gave him a kind smile.

I had gone back to my previous state of calm, but unfortunately, I didn't stay calm for long. I lost all control when I saw Tanya Denali wrapping herself around Edward. All of the calm and peace left me and I felt like collapsing onto the ground.

I was no longer walking on clouds. I was back on Earth, being faced with cruel reality.

Again, I was desperately trying to find something to distract myself with so I wouldn't have to see Tanya get the exact thing that I wanted. Edward's attention.

The solution was right in front of me, still dancing around weirdly. I didn't have the strength anymore to return to that inhuman water state.

"Hey, Dean, do you...maybe...I mean, you don't have to-" I stammered while he stopped moving stupidly and looked at me with a curious expression on his face.

"Bella, come on! You promised, so let's go." Irina appeared beside me and dragged me away from Dean before I had the chance to say anything else. She hooked her arm through mine and started babbling away. "You were like totally amazing. I've never seen anything like that. You and your sister are pretty cool, and you're both so beautiful. I'm like really jealous. I wish I could be like you." On and on it went.

"Hey! Where are you taking me?" I asked as she dragged me passed the school.

"We're going to get sushi," Irina answered.

I heard footsteps approaching from behind at a fast pace.

"Couldn't you guys wait!" a high pitched voice complained.

I stopped and turned around, only to see Tanya and Kate rapidly approaching. It was Tanya who had spoken. She had a voice that I imagined would fit Barbie perfectly. Kate grinned at me in a friendly manner and I weakly returned the smile.

"You know, you were pretty amazing back there," she complimented.

"Thanks."

Tanya wrinkled her nose a little, but didn't say anything.

We eventually made it to the sushi bar. The three of them gushed on and on about some boys in the school. It didn't surprise me when Edward's name was mentioned, but it still irked me.

"So, Bella," Irina started. "It's not really true that you and Dylan are dating, right?"

Kate rolled her eyes and I shook my head.

"See, I told you so. Dylan is not interested in girls like her," Kate said, then turned to me, "No offense, but you're too nice and cute."

I shrugged. I didn't really care if Dylan liked me or not.

"Are there any boys in the school that you like?" Irina asked. She had been asking so many questions and it was only adding onto my fatigue.

"No," I lied smoothly.

"Really? Weren't you talking to Dean Chesters earlier?" she pressed.

"Yes? What's your point? I talk to a lot of guys."

"Oh, well it seemed like you were interested in him. Maybe I'm mistaken."

"I was about to ask him out, that's all," I said with a light shrug.

"That's so cute. Then you and your sisters boyfriends are best friends, and all of you will get along perfectly like a big, happy family," Irina cooed.

"Um, yeah, I guess." I didn't even see any point in correcting her.

"Oh, wow, this is all _very_ cute and everything, but we have to get back to class," Tanya piped, disturbing Irina's daydreams.

I suppressed a sigh. I would never agree to this again.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Hey, Bella," Dean greeted me when he sat down at our table.

Somehow I had managed to make it through the rest of the day. I let Alice do my hair for a few hours simply because I had been too tired to even care.

"Hey," I replied weakly.

Damon sat down beside Chris, like he always did, and placed his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She just continued eating as if nothing happened. She had always been that way. She wasn't against showing affection, but she definitely wasn't the most affectionate person out there, either. Especially not when it came to boys. Even though she's my twin, I've never really understood her in that sense, but maybe it was just because none of the guys had ever suited her. I personally didn't think that Damon was the right fit for her, but she didn't notice things like that.

"Didn't you want to ask me something?" Dean asked, referring to earlier this afternoon.

I looked at him. He was handsome, no doubt, with his short black hair. It wasn't exactly spiky, but it was close to it. His eyes had the slightest of red tints in them which made his eyes really interesting, and he had cute, boyish features. He looked like a boy my age. There shouldn't be any problem with me dating him.

I took a deep breath and pushed every thought of Edward away from my mind. I had been too close to comparing Dean to Edward.

I smiled slightly at him. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out with me sometime," I rushed out so quickly that I wasn't even sure he had heard what I said.

Apparently Chris had, though, because she started coughing like crazy. She looked like she was choking. Damon was continuously clapping her hard on the back, which only resulted in her hitting him back as hard as she could.

Dario accidentally squeezed the glass in his hand, and Dean stared at me with a dumbfounded expression. When two minutes of pure silence went by, I began worrying. Chris sensed this and kicked him under the table. He jumped and seemed to snap out of his stupor.

"Um, yeah, sure. We could play mini golf or something. But only if you like mini golf, 'cause I don't really know if you lik-" he rambled, but I cut him off.

"Mini golf sounds great." I chuckled, erasing the worried expression from his face.

"Aw man, Damon. How come your best friend has better ideas than you do? I wanna play mini golf, too! I shall dump you and date Dario instead." Chris hit Damon on the arm while saying that.

"You can come along if you want to. That is, if Bella doesn't mind," Dean proposed.

I shrugged. "I don't mind."

Chris stopped beating Damon and instead beamed at me.

I rolled my eyes at her.

After dinner, the three boys went to play basketball. They asked if we wanted to join, but we were quick to decline and let them go alone.

As always, our friends were sitting at the fountain, looking like movie stars in a scene. It was really always like this. I wouldn't have been surprised if everything suddenly went in slow motion.

"Chrissy! My absolute best friend in the whole wide world!" Rose screamed, jumping up and throwing herself into Chris' arms.

"Is there something that you want?" she asked warily.

"No, not really. I just felt the need to tell you that you're my best friend," Rose told her, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Okay," Chris replied slowly, carefully, but then she got excited. "You will never guess what happened!" She beckoned for Rosalie to come closer, and whispered excitedly in her ear.

I went and sat down beside Alice.

"What is she so excited about?" Alice asked.

"I have no idea," I answered with a shrug, and leaned my head on her shoulder. Alice ran her hand through my long hair and started complimenting herself on what a good job she did with it, even though I hadn't noticed anything different about it.

"No!" Rose exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes! It's true. I was there," Chris reassured her.

The two of them sounded like gossiping housewives.

"Hey, what are you two taling about?" Dylan asked them.

"Bella asked Dean out!" Rose blurted.

I narrowed my eyes at Chris, but she just shrugged in response.

"You did _what?_" Alice screeched and pushed against my head. "But I thought you-" she cut herself off and looked back and forth between Edward and I. Edward eyed her with an intense expression on his face and I did my best to ignore it.

"What is it with you Swans and the D's?" Dylan asked in confusion.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Chris teased, but sounded serious.

Dylan scoffed. "Hardly. I am a D myself, but I don't really care."

"I'm sure you don't," Chris said in a tone that showed she clearly didn't believe that at all.

"One day, the two of you will hook up and I'll be there, laughing," Emmett commented.

That reminded me of something, sending an evil thought across my mind.

"Speaking of hooking up. Chris would you mind explaining to me why I found you and Damon semi-naked in your bed this morning?" I asked her sweetly, batting my eyelashes innocently for emphasis.

"What? Why didn't you say something earlier, Bella? And Chris, why didn't you tell me? I thought you would tell me when you got all hot and dirty with Damon!" Rose cried.

Alice was babbling about something, but I couldn't hear her because Emmett's booming laugh was too loud. Meanwhile, Dylan "discreetly" passed Edward twenty dollars. _Did they have a bet going?_ And Jasper was fruitlessly attempting to calm Alice and Rosalie.

My friends were really the most lovable lot.

_Third POV_

The room was once again dark. Small candles littered around the table in the middle of the room illuminated the space slightly. The black-haired man who everyone referred to as "Master", was sitting on the table, seeming to be in deep thought. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the sound of high heels clicking against the linoleum flooring floated to his ears.

The door of the room opened and Blossom casually strolled in. Her hair was flowing around her face in beautiful waves, making her look perfectly innocent. Her youthful looks were really an advantage for them.

"What have you got for me?" the Master asked, his voice deep and husky.

"It seems they are making fast progress, Master, faster than we originally thought. But it doesn't look like they are at the point where we need them be yet. It'll only be a matter of time until they are ready. Also, I've found out who their boyfriends are, in case we need that information." She slid pictures of two dark-haired boys over the mahogany table.

"Damon Boness and Dean Chesters?" the Master asked.

Blossom nodded eagerly until an amused chuckle disrupted the silence of the room.

"Are you honestly that incompetent?" a deep male voice asked. It belonged to a young man with dirty blond hair. "I watched them all day and read their body language. It's obvious that neither of those boys are very important to them." He stepped away from the wall he had been casually leaning against.

"Nobody wants to hear your opinion, Gollum," Blossom spat. She had never liked working with Houdini, and she found his nickname to be rather ridiculous. In her opinion, Gollum was much more adequate.

Houdini wasn't bothered by her snippy tone, he simply vanished, walking around the room unseen. He liked to be invisible most of the time.

He appeared behind behind his Master's back and placed his hands on his shoulders, leaning down to speak closely in his ear, "Maybe you should let me continue. I saw things that the child obviously wasn't able to comprehend," he said with a mocking look in the direction of Blossom who had begun glaring at the man when he referred to her as a child.

"I think I should do this. After all, I have the most useful gift to do so," a rather shrill feminine voice said suddenly. The woman speaking had just entered the room, and even in this dim light, you could see the flaming red of her hair.

"No offense, darling, but I do believe I'm better suited for this job," Houdini said.

"That's what you think," she purred.

Houdini was about to reply, when the voice of their Master filled the room.

"Enough! This task belongs to Blossom and Shadow for now. They deserve a shot," he said in a kind voice that held a hidden, evil edge to it.

The shadows in the room moved and a man stepped out of them. In this dull light, his skin looked even more grey than usual.

"We won't disappoint you, Master," he said in his barely-there voice.

Houdini and the redhead rolled their eyes in pure annoyance. In their opinion, their Master was sometimes just a little too kind. If he wanted things to be done, he should let them be done properly, not by children.

But they would get their chance soon enough. They always did. And the thought made evil smiles spread across their faces.

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**_A/N: _ Yes, yes children, it's getting excting now... kind of. Amazing and dramatic things take time and this is only chapter ten, Ithink we need at least ten more, but I don't really know. I'm not even sure what happens in the next Chapter -.-' hehehe. Soooo only for _C. Vanessa_ I made the Gollum comment, she was the one who came up with that creep :P Any more random things I have to say? Hmm... Nah not really my mind is kinda preoccupied with me thinking about dying my hair red... Oh no there's one thing I can say: Please, please review. Pretty please? Ya'll know how an author needs them**


	11. Happy Halloween?

**_A/N:_ Okay guys, this chapter is the longest chapter so far but it's not as long as I wanted it. Actually I wanted to give you a little treat for being so supportive and do an extra long chapter, but then I got the sickness known as a writer's block. I was thinking of ways to continue from where I stopped, but I didn't have any sudden enlightments, so I just decided to upload what I got here and think about the rest. The bad thing is I already know what I had in mind and stuff, but I just can't get to the part. SO I guess you have to ait for my super coo l and dramatic idea until the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway and...yeah that's all I gotta say for now.

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_Third POV_

Master paced angrily up and down the room. He wasn't simply angry. He was murderous. His minions had failed miserably in their job to collect enough information about each person that walked in and out of the academy. Had he not given them instructions to check everything twice?

Of course he had to do it himself in the end, and with what he found, he was not at all pleased. If Blossom had paid more attention, she would have discovered it earlier. Now he had to fear that his brother had been informed before him.

"Master? You called for us?" the voice of Houdini spoke.

Their Master stopped pacing and turned toward them. There stood all of his incompetent minions: Blossom, Shadow, Houdini, and Nightmare. All of them looked expectantly at their Master.

Master glared murderously at them. "Sit!" He snapped. As soon as the command left his mouth, the chairs around the table moved back enough to let the four of them sit on them.

When Master's minions sat, a dangerous twinkle gleamed in his eyes. Suddenly, the chairs moved again, slamming harshly against the table with enough force to make each of the minions moan and groan in pain.

Master smiled at the sound. "What exactly did you do years ago when I ordered you to check everyone that entered this academy or it's property?" he asked, a menacing edge pushing out of his voice.

"We did exactly that," Houdini answered in a bored tone.

"Apparently you did not. I have recently found that Alistair Merchile's resume is a fake. If you would have put more effort into this, you would have figured this information out sooner," Master spat, slamming a yellow file folder - which contained said resume - on the table.

"What do you mean by fake?" the throaty voice of Shadow asked.

Master turned his glare to the slightly grey man. "Alistair Merchile does not truly exist. There are no records of him or his existence anywhere, which can only mean one thing. 'Alistair' is a Guardian."

Following this revelation, sharp intakes of breath echoed throughout the room. Master watched all of them with anger still the dominant emotion on his face.

"Allow me to take care of that, Master," Nightmare's shrill voice held a pleading tone.

The dark-haired man glanced at the redheaded woman with a sneer on his face. "You were one of those to mess up in the first place. The task will be given to Blossom."

"What? Why her? She's never done it before!" Houdini protested.

"Are you questioning my decisions?" the calmness of Master's voice was dangerous, taking on a deadly edge.

Houdini slumped back in his chair and said no more.

"That's what I thought," Master said, a triumphant smirk momentarily crossing his face before it shifted back into his menacing glare. He turned to Blossom. "This will be your first assignment. I expect you to report back to me with absolutely no flaws in the task. I want this done by the end of the week. If it is not, we will let Nightmare do whatever she pleases with you."

Blossom's pale blue eyes widened and she immediately nodded her head eagerly as a small shudder creeped it's way up her spine.

Nightmare smiled cruelly.

_Chris POV_

"Yay! I win, I win! Be jealous, loser!" I jumped up and down while I laughed at Damon for losing.

"You cheated! I saw you pushing it," he protested.

I made my lips jut out into a pout as I squeezed his cheek. "Aw, are you sad because I'm better at mini golf than you are? Don't cry. I'll let you win next time."

Damon pushed my hand away with an annoyed look taking over his face. "You're not better than me. You cheated," he accused again.

"Do you have any proof of this?" I asked innocently.

"Yes. Dean and Bella are my witnesses. I'm right, aren't I, guys?" He looked around, only to see that neither of them were there.

I laughed loudly at him while he scowled, shooting death glares in my direction. I wiped a tear away from my eye and calmed down a little. "You were saying?" I smirked. "Just deal with it. I won, you lost."

"I don't like losing," Damon whined, pouting.

I put my arms around his waist and looked up at him with a kind smile on my face. "Maybe I'll let you score some points in another game," I told him, giving him a light kiss on the cheek before letting go and going to search for Bella and Dean.

I found them sitting on a bench, looking like they were having some sort of conversation. Judging by the emotions I was getting from Bella, I would say that she was actually enjoying herself. The thought made me smile in contentment.

I never really found out what her problem had been the other day, but Jasper had once again ignored the emotional privacy of others and told us that Edward had felt guilty and regretful. That led all of us to the conclusion that something had happened between the two of them. Unfortunately, it seemed that Bella had either moved on or just didn't think about it when I was around. Either way, I couldn't pick it out of her mind at any time, and when I tried to persuade Dylan to make one of them talk, he had just ignored me and walked away. He was such a moron.

"Really, I don't know why you wanted to go play mini golf if you're just sitting around, being boring," I barged into their conversation.

Bella threw me an annoyed glance. "You know some people tend to talk on dates. Not everybody is like you and just jumps the guy the moment nobody is looking."

I didn't even bother answering her. She and the others kept bringing up the day Bella found Damon and I laying in my bed and the little incident before that. Of course nobody listened when I told them that Damon just came by with his portable DVD player and we fell asleep while watching the third season of _Supernatural._

We may have made out a little, but other than that, nothing happened. But you try explaining that to those little freaks.

"Well then, we'll just leave you guys alone," Damon said, slinging his arm around my shoulder and draging me away.

"Hey, let me go! I wanna know what they're talking about!" I protested.

Damon just laughed and continued to drag me along. He pulled me all the way back to our house where Rosalie's voice made me stop whining.

"Are you guys planning to get it on already? It's only noon. You should wait a while."

Damon let me go instantly, which made me fall down. If I keep falling in his presence, I might have to break up with him before I get any permanent injuries.

Alice's tiny head appeared behind Rose. "Where's Bella? I thought you guys went on a double date."

"She's still with Dean. You shouldn't go interrupt them, though, they're talking," I told her meaningfully.

"Oooh, Jasper! Did you hear that? Let's go listen to what they're talking about," Alice called over her shoulder to Jasper who was just walking up to us. As soon as he was in Alice's reach, she grabbed hold of him and pulled him behind her.

I felt completely ignored. But it was Alice, so I shouldn't really be surprised.

"So...you guys wanna come with me and help Emmett with his project? Or are you busy?" Rose asked.

"What's this project about?" I asked, finally getting up off the ground.

"I think it was something about genetic comparison of Dwarfs and Gremlins."

"What on Earth are Gremlins?" I asked.

"Some stupid little creatures that like to destroy stuff. Very troublesome," Damon explained.

"Coolness. We'll help."

"Great! Em is already in the library," Rose exclaimed, leading us to the building containing the school's library.

It wasn't the first time that I had been in the library, but it amazed me everytime I came here. It was a big round room with bookshelves strewn all around and the ceiling so high it seemed like it was miles away. The most amazing thing about the room, though, was that the books floated around above our heads. All you had to do was take a seat and call out loud what book or information you require, and the book will come to you.

I looked around the room, only to see that Emmett wasn't even sitting at any of the tables.

"Rose, where's-"

"Emmett's in that room," she cut me off, answering the question I was going to ask, as she gestured toward a door between two bookshelves.

Inside the room, it was a lot darker than the main hall and not nearly as busy. It looked more like a regular library, but there were books floating around here as well. The thing that I found the most strange was that half of the room was behind bars. The other side of the bars looked exactly like everything else, but the shelves had no books on them. Instead, they held weird-looking, yet somehow quite beautiful, spheres.

"What are those?" I asked quietly. The silence in the room caused me to whisper, as not to disturb the peace.

"Those are Crystal Balls," Damon answered at a normal volume.

"Are you kidding me?" I didn't bother to whisper again.

Damon shook his head.

"So fortune telling is real too?" I asked. "This place is getting freakier by the minute."

We reached the table where Emmett was buried behind a large pile of books.

"Oh, you brought them along?" Emmett asked Rose with surprise etched into his voice, then turned to us. "I would've thought the two of you would be busy."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Chris, you know fortune telling doesn't really exist. Well, unless you count psychics like Alice," Rose told me, continuing the conversation from before.

Confused, I asked, "Then what are the Crystal Balls there for?"

"Witches used them hundreds of years ago to see the past, present, and future. It was a simple way to omniscience," Emmett answered. Hearing such a big word come from Emmett's mouth stunned me. "What?" He asked self-consciously when I continued to stare at him in surprise and slight awe.

I snapped out of it and shook my head. "So how come nobody is using them now?"

"No one knows how to work them. The witches lost the ability to work with them ages ago. Nobody knows why, but we can't use them - we don't know how." Rose shrugged and opened one of the books laying in front of us.

I let it go and turned my attention to Emmett, who was describing to us exactly what he had done and what he still needed help with. Since he was a Black Scarf, I shouldn't have been so surprised that he was really smart. But seeing him being all serious and intellectual still seemed a little strange to me.

We were in the middle of finding out how the mitosis of Gremlins worked, when I heard a voice. The voice seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't make out exactly what it was saying.

"Do you guys hear that?" I asked cautiously. Seeing their confused expressions as they looked up from the books led me to the suspicion that I was the only one in the room who could hear it.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked, looking at me in concern.

"Nevermind," I answered, shrugging it off and getting back to work.

Two hours, fifteen discussion, and thirty-two books later, we were finally done with Emmett's project.

We grabbed our things and started to finally make our way out of the library.

"Amarantha," I heard it loud and clear in my head as I was about to step out of the room, right behind Rosalie. I turned but didn't see anyone who could have been close enough to be so clear for me to hear. All I could see were those Crystal Balls behind the bars. "Amarantha!" The voice called again, and in that moment, I saw a few of the Crystal Balls glowing.

"Hey Chris, what are you staring at?" Damon whispered in my ear.

I shuddered, but not because of him, rather, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

xXxXxXxXxXx

We were lazily hanging around in Rosalie's room when Alice stormed in.

"Why didn't anyone remind me?" she screeched at us.

"What are you talking about, shorty?" Emmett asked.

Alice held up a flyer. It looked sort of familiar to me. I think I had seen them flying around campus for a while now.

"The Halloween dance?" Rose asked with one of her perfect eyebrows raised.

"Yes! Neither of you thought to remind me, and now I only have the next two days to think of something that'll work," she yelped.

Jasper entered the room with the rest of the group trailing behind him. Even Bella and Dean made an appearance.

"Alice, just chill. Nobody expects you to do anything," Dylan attempted to calm her down.

Since it's Alice, he wasn't successful. She jumped up and began pacing around the room, mumbling, "I have to get costumes for you people and myself and they have to match with the costumes of your dates. Which reminds me that everyone needs a date-" she went on and on and it seemed as if she wasn't even taking a breath.

"Alice, just breathe for a second," Bella told her calmly.

Alice slumped down on the sofa and let out a huff of air.

"You don't have to pick costumes for us, you know," I told her.

"Yes, I do. Otherwise you won't look good. I'm the only one who is capable of dressing you guys appropriately." She was talking very fast and I was starting to worry that she might pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Alice, seriously, just relax. The dance is on Monday and we still have a whole afternoon to get whatever we need, then we can work on those costumes together tomorrow, and by Monday they should be done," Rose reasoned.

"Yes, you're right. We need to be organized right now, and I shouldn't be losing my cool. I can't have you all going to the dance dressed as...pumpkins or something that horrible. Ugh, just thinking about that." She shuddered with a grossed out expression on her face.

"Isn't the point of Halloween _to_ look horrible?" I asked her dryly. Like usual, I was ignored.

"Rose, I need something to write," Alice instructed quickly, jumping up again.

Rose handed her a clipboard. Where she got it from, I have no idea.

"Okay. Rose and Emmett, Jasper and I. Dylan, who are you going with?" Alice managed to write, talk, and glare at Dylan all at the same time.

"Um, I don't know, probably Kate."

"What do you mean by 'probably'? I need definite answers here! Go and ask her right this instance. If you're not back in seven minutes, you'll be going with Lauren Mallory." Alice's voice, expression and demeanor were very frightening right now. Even her older brother seemed to be too scared to discuss anything with her. Dylan just vanished into thin air as soon as she was finished talking. "Chris, I assume you and Damon will be going together?" She almost sounded like a teacher when she asked that.

"Yeah, why even bother asking?" I answered her. Once again, she paid no attention to me. That evil little pixie.

"Bella, who are you going with?" she asked.

"I...err, well-"

"Bella's going with me," Dean announced, then turned to Bella and gave her a shy smile. "That is, _if_ you want to go with me."

Bella frowned for a moment and her eyes quickly darted to Edward. Their gazes met for the shortest of moments, and if I hadn't been paying attention to her mind, I wouldn't have even noticed.

In that tiny second, hurt and sadness washed over Bella, and I got a small glimpse of her memories.

She immediately turned away, back to Dean. "Sure, why not?" She answered with a sweet smile. She wasn't exactly happy, but she liked Dean enough to know that she'd enjoy herself with him. Her mind darted again to the memory that I hadn't been able to grasp properly. This time, I saw more.

They kissed? It already happened? Alice is a seriously wacky psychic. She said they would kiss _next_ week. And...wait...what kind of reaction is that?

"Son of a bi-"

"What do you have against Dean?" Damon interrupted, looking at me in disbelief.

"What?" My eyes widened. "Oh, nothing. I didn't mean him, I was talking about Edward."

"Oh, yeah, right. Edward, who are you going with?" Alice asked him, ignoring me for the umpteenth time today.

Edward was looking at me in confusion, but answered Alice anyway. "I'm going with Tanya," he stated.

That moment, Dylan reappeared and announced, "I'm going with Kate."

"How could you do this? Don't you have a heart?" I asked Edward, glaring murderously at him.

"What are you talking about? Since when is it bad to take a girl out?" Dylan asked, obviously thinking I was talking to him.

"Not you, Srew-Boy. I'm talking to your _lovable_scumbag of a brother," I replied, sarcasm filling my voice for the word 'lovable'. Yeah, maybe I was being a little mean, but come on! How can a person blow Bella off like that? It's Bella!

"Ouch! What did he do to you?" Jasper asked, looking back and forth between us. "How come you don't seem to be able to have nice emotions toward any of the Cullen boys?"

"I'm nice to Carlisle," I answered, still glaring harshly at Edward and allowing him the privilege of reading my mind while I screamed hundreds upon hundreds of curses and insults are him. He winced everytime, giving me the satisfaction that I needed. He caused my sister pain, and I didn't like that. I wished for him to feel the same pain. He deserved to know what Bella felt like.

"Chris, stop it!" Bella's gentle voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I blinked and looked around. I hadn't realized that I had been slowly stepping closer to Edward. I looked at him and saw him looking back at me in pain. Not physical, but emotional.

"Is that what she felt like?" he asked me quietly, his voice hardly even audible.

A frown found it's way onto my face. I wasn't sure what he was talking about. I looked to Bella for help.

"You were picking out my emotions and sending them to Edward," she answered tiredly.

"I was?"

"What's going on here?" Dean asked, looking from Bella to me to Edward and back to Bella.

I glanced around, only to see everyone looking at the three of us in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Edward, I didn't realize what I was doing," I apologized, something rare for me.

He looked at me for a second before his eyes went to Bella. He had the strangest expression on his face. It was something like awe and understanding at the same time. There was also something else in there, but I couldn't place what it was. "It's okay, I deserved it," he said softly, not removing his eyes from Bella.

"If you're not telling us what's going on, then don't bother interrupting," Alice chided us. Luckily she turned before she had a chance to see the expression on my face. She wouldn't have liked it. "Okay, costumes...hmm, Edward, you'll be a vampire."

"What? Why am I a vampire?" he protested as he finally tore his gaze from my sister.

"Because you suck, bro," Emmett joked and laughed when I did. I admit it, I like bad jokes.

Don't judge me.

"But I don't want to be a vampire," Edward's voice was whining.

"Stop being such a girl. You can't change your fate and I'm saying that you're a vampire. Tanya can be Frankenstein or something, I don't care," Alice said as she moved her tiny hands across the paper on the clipboard, busily scribbling things down.

"What does a Halloween costume have to do with fate?" Edward asked with exasperation and confusion seeping into his voice. It was his turn to be ignored by Alice.

"Rose and Emmett, you will be Snow White and her Prince," Alice continued.

"Does the Prince have a name?" Emmett asked.

"Well, um, no. But it doesn't really matter, you'll be the zombie version of them," she explained.

"Why zombie?" Bella asked in her delicate gentle voice.

"Well, they did live happily ever after. Who said that they'd stay young forever?" I answered, making Emmett burst into laughter as everyone else rolled his eyes.

Still, I was sure Dylan's cough wasn't real. He was so laughing.

"Chris and Damon, you'll be Barbie and Ken."

"What? Are you freaking kidding me?" Damon and I shouted in unison.

"There's no point in trying to make me decide on something else. It's my choice and I'm going to win any arguments, so you'll just be wasting your time. Anyway, Dean and Bella, you'll be Romeo and Juliet." She paced the room. "Jasper will be Harry Potter and I'll be Ginny Weasley."

"What? They're not even a famous couple," Edward exclaimed.

"He's right, you know," Dylan agreed. "That's just a spoiler for those who haven't read all the books."

"Oh, shut up. I'm making the rules here and I really want to wear red hair, so Jasper and I are going to be Harry and Ginny," Alice snapped back, making everyone in the room close their mouths. Damn that pixie was scary. "Now, Dylan and Kate are going to be Zeus and Aphrodite. Any questions?" She asked, smiling sweetly at us with innocent, wide eyes.

"Yeah, why do I have to be Barbie? Can't I switch with Rose? I mean, come on, she's blonde and I have black hair," I complained.

"Which is exactly why you will not be switching. I've made my decisions. End. Of. Discussion," Alice replied firmly, effectively shutting everyone up.

After that, no one dared to argue with her. The rest of the day was pure torture. First, we had to go shopping with Alice, who decided that she would need a lot of fabric for the costumes. Actually, that wasn't so bad. It was better than regular shopping trips with her, so I didn't mind that part much. But what really made me annoyed was when Alice demanded she take our _measurements._ Seriously, I don't see why we couldn't have just gone to some random shop and grabbed a few witch or zombie costumes or something. But of course simplicity like that won't do in Alice's book. She clearly enjoyed pushing and pulling and prodding us and it was easy to see that she didn't care when the needles actually poked us hard enough to break through our skin while she was tailoring the costumes.

She was like an evil, hardcore fashionista.

The only really enjoyable part of the day was Tanya's face when she was told that she'd be going as Medusa. Personally, I found Frankenstein a better costume idea for her, but Alice changed her mind.

And there was no arguing with Alice. Besides, we got to see Tanya throw a temper tatrum freakout when she heard what she'd be going as. But no one, not even Tanya, could get out of the pixie's metaphorical grip.

"You sure you don't want me to escort you to your room?" Damon asked me for like the fifth time now.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I answered. "But seeing as you're walking with me anyways, there really is no point in telling you that you shouldn't bother," I said in annoyance.

"Am I bothering you?" Damon asked with hurt in his voice and expression.

"Right now? Yeah you are," I snapped.

"Damn. If you're always in such a bad mood after spending a whole day with that crazy chick, I should keep you away from the evil dwarf."

"Maybe," I replied. "But right now, I just really wanna sleep, so please leave me alone. Go play with Dean or something." I knew I wasn't being very friendly, but now that Alice had finally released us from her evil clutch, I wasn't thrilled to have company of any kind. I was really looking forward to going back to my room and collapsing on my bed.

That pixie had managed to exhaust me more than anyone ever has. The only thing that could even come close to this exhaustion was when Raven's mom forced us to clean up her garage. That had been one of the worst days of my life. If I _ever_ see that evil little monkey again, I'll probably commit suicide. Or maybe just burn the thing.

The thought of Raven made me come to a sudden halt. I was so in trouble. I haven't talked to her for weeks now, and even worse, I haven't been talking to my parents.

What was wrong with me? What kind of friend was I? What kind of _daughter_ was I?

"What's up?" Damon asked softly in concern.

"I haven't called my parents." My voice was slow and quiet as I spoke with regret and guilt etched in.

"Oh, well that sucks. I bet you're gonna be in a lot of trouble when they come down here to visit."

"Why would they come here and visit me? I always thought the point of boarding school was to be away from your parents."

"Yeah, but Parent's Day is going to be in November," he told me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Parent's Day? I didn't even know there was such a thing at this school. What are you guys doing then?"

"Well there's actually kind of two of them. The one in November isn't that special because most parents don't bother coming here just for a day, but there's still the School Fair. For that, parents are allowed to come for an entire week, so most parents just visit then instead," Damon explained.

"Wow. Damon, that was a lot of helpful information," I said sarcastically.

He sighed and continued explaining, "In November, we all get a free day to spend with our parents. Those of us who's parents don't make it just chill out on campus all day. The rest are allowed to leave campus with their parents."

"And what is the School Fair?"

"In May, we have a School Fair; it's an event that we organize our selves. The different classificiation groups each do something and every class has a project, but there's also other projects that you can freely sign up for."

"That's really cool. But why didn't anyone tell me before?" I asked.

Damon merely shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and left him standing there as I sprinted to my room.

In my room, I dove for my laptop like a hungry man reaching for the last steak on Earth. I quickly turned it on and started typing an email to Raven.

"_Hey Raven_," I typed.

_I know you haven't heard from me in a while, and I'm really sorry, but I was just too busy to remember. You know everything is kind of overwhelming here and I feel like I still have so much to learn._

_I'm really, truly sorry from my bottom of my heart that you haven't heard from me until now. Please don't hate me. Pretty please with a marachino cherry on top?_

_Write back as soon as you get this._

_I hope you still love me as much as I love you,_

Chris

After I sent that, I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed the familiar number of our home in Phoenix.

"Hello?" My mother's delicate voice answered.

"Hey Mom, it's me," I said, allowing her to hear the bright smile on my face. I probably sounded like one of those people trying to sell you something on the phone...maybe even a telemarketer.

"Chris?"

"Hi."

"Well, what a surprise it is to hear from you again. I was already beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten us," Mom said, her voice holding a sour edge.

"I'm so sorry, Mom, you know I tend to forget things like that," I replied sheepishly.

"You shouldn't forget your own family, Christabel. Bella managed to call at least once every week or so, but we haven't heard from you until now. Why is that Chris?"

"Mom, I'm sorry, okay? I kind of got distracted with everything. A new school, new classes, new friends, a boyfriend, all that stuff."

"Oh, you've got a boyfriend? What's his name?" Mom asked curiously, her previous anger toward me already forgotten.

"His name is Damon. He's really...nice."

For some reason, I couldn't really think of an adequate word to describe him. Not because he was so great, but because he wasn't.

I mean sure, I liked him a lot, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten anywhere near my lips, but he was...

I didn't have an appropriate word to say what I meant.

Replaceable? No, that's too harsh.

"Oh, darling, that doesn't sound too good. Are you already having trouble in paradise?"

"No, not really," I sighed. "It's just that - you know what, nevermind. How are you and Dad?"

"Oh, we're fine, sweetie, really just the same old. Nothing exciting is happening here without my two little girls." I could hear the tears through her voice.

"Mom, don't be sad. We're coming home for Christmas, anyway. I'll make sure to cause enough trouble to keep you occupied until at least Easter," I promised.

I heard her shaky, weak laugh and smiled to myself. She and Bella were so much alike in some ways.

I talked to her for about an hour. We spoke about God and the world, and when I finally hung up, I fell back onto my pillows and peacefully strolled into dreamland.

"Put this on, I wanna see if it fits."

I was woken up as I felt something land on me. I opened my eyes and saw Alice pushing my curtains aside with Bella trailing behind her.

Oh yeah, I forgot that Alice made Bella her personal assistant for this Halloween madness. I don't know why, but as long as it wasn't me, I was happy. It would be even better if I wasn't involved in this madness at all because I really didn't want to be Barbie. I still wasn't over the amount of pink Alice planned to use on me.

I pushed whatever they threw over me away and rolled over to continue my serene state of sleep.

Obviously that wasn't good enough for Alice, since she compained, "Hey! Be careful with that!" and threw it back on me.

"Leave me alone, Alice," I groaned as I pushed the item back off of me.

"Chris, if you don't want me to send your baby pictures to our school magazine, you better put this on," Alice threatened.

"You don't even have any baby pictures of me."

"Oh, yes, I do. I already knew that you were going to be difficult, so I asked Bella for them."

"Eh, whatever, I was a cute baby."

"Yes. Your butt was especially adorable."

"If you put pictures of me anywhere, you'll also be punishing Bella seeing as we used to look identical."

"Okay, fine. Lay here and ignore me. I'll just start calling you by your nickname, alright, Bum-Bum?"

My eyes fluttered open immediately and I saw Alice's small frame standing beside my bed with a black garmet bag in her tiny hands. She gave me an smugly evil smile that was mixed between a smirk and a grin while she tossed the bag at me for the third time.

Bella just stood there with a ridiculously pink clipboard that had fuzzy pink stuff around the edges, and scribbled something down before giving me a sympathetic smile.

Sighing, I sat up and groaned as I stretched, my bones creaking and cracking. I was scared to open the garmet bag, but I wasn't exactly sure why. I figured it was because it had been Alice's choice. When I finally got up the courage to open it, I knew why I had been worried.

The first thing I saw was pink. I warily took the item out of the bag and figured out that it was a short dress. I saw a lot of pink. Then there was glitter, and lots of it, and even more pink. I so didn't want to put this thing on. Ever.

"Chris, just get dressed. It'll look better when it's on," Bella encouraged. I looked at her with a unsure expression, wondering if Alice had brainwashed my twin. When I found no evidence of that theory in her mind, I sighed and quickly stripped out of my pajamas.

Somehow I managed to pull the thing on without "accidentally" ripping it. To me, the thing was extremely puffy, but I guess that could have just been my opinion only. Since Bella and Alice were only standing there, discussing things and looking at that stupid clipboard, I had to awkwardly stretch my arms back and zip myself up.

I straighted out the dress and walked over to the full-length mirror in my room.

I sighed again. There I was, standing in a pink dress that glittered more than a freaking disco ball. Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but still, it had a fair amount of sparkles on it. The thing had a sweetheart neckline with silver glitter embroidery on the breast and a silk pink bow on the bustline.

The skirt of the dress was the same pink, but not silky, and it puffed out a little which I thought made me look a bit like a cupcake. I could see small sparkly stuff randomly distributed on the skirt, but it wasn't very easy to see. The dress ended high on my thigh, but it didn't make me look like a slut.

Even though I hated the dress, even I would admit that it was still kind of beautiful. I turned around and looked at myself, trying to keep the frown on my face so Alice wouldn't think that she'd done something right.

"Oh, look at you! I knew I was good, but this is just perfect," Alice said, rushing to my side and fumbling with the dress.

"You made this?" I asked, my eye brows raised in disbelief.

"More or less. I bought a basic pink dress and upgraded it a little. I stayed up all night to finish, or nearly finish all of the costumes," she answered.

She stayed up all night, yet she somehow still manages to be her usual hyperself.

I shook my head in slight awe.

"So, do you like it? I can make some changes if you don't," Alice asked as she fixed the bow to her standards.

"Well, it's a little puffy, don't you think?"

Alice glanced down at the skirt and shook her head before her hands went under the skirt and pulled some fabric. "You have to pull the underskirt down. No wonder you looked like a cupcake," she giggled.

I looked in the mirror again and now that everything seemed to be in the right place, I actually started to like the dress. Even if it was pink and glittery. "I really like it, Alice. Thanks."

"No problem, this is just a hobby of mine. Now get dressed, I want to see you in my room in 20 minutes so I can pick accessories, shoes, and decide on a hairstyle. Bring the dress with you." As soon as she was done talking, she left the room quickly with Bella trailing after her, effectively leave me speechless and gaping like a fish.

I got ready quickly, and twenty minutes later, I was sitting in front of a huge pile of shoes that Alice insisted I try on. Occasionally, she would glance up from her work and tell me her opinion on the pair of heels I was trying on. She was currently adding the finishing touches to Bella's costume. Alice said that she'd gotten it from the theater club along with the costume Dean would be wearing.

As I looked at the dress that Alice had created for Bella, I internally smirked in a smug manner. If I had to live through the nightmare of wearing a pink dress, she would at least be at the same place in her own dress, living through it with me. I mean, I don't really know what version of Romeo and Juliet Alice read or watched, but apparently Juliet wears a short, slutty dress in it.

Alice had given Bella the task of making sure everyone tried on their costume, so she was constantly walking in and out of the room, and I saw the way she eyed the dress in distaste each time.

"Alice," Bella said as she walked in the room again. "Edward and Tanya aren't in their rooms."

"Well then, it's their own problem. I told them to stay close," Alice shrugged, flying around the room while she did a million things at once. "Anyway, how do you like your dress, Bella?"

"I don't know, Alice. Isn't it a little...revealing for Juliet? I don't think that she would wear such a short dress," Bella answered cautiously. I pretended to sneeze to hide my snort and Rose, who was fidgeting with a black wig in front of Alice's dresser mirror, gave a light chuckle.

"It's not my fault the dress is like that," Alice replied carelessly.

"You made the dress, Alice," I threw in for Bella's benefit.

"Yeah, but it was long and appropriate. I simply changed it so Bella would match the rest of us. Rose talked her way out of the whole zombie theme - which, by the way, I find sad since I've always wanted to see zombie makeup on you - and she wanted to wear a shorter dress. Bella would have been the only innocent-looking one and I can't have that.

Besides, it's Halloween, we're allowed to freely dress up like sluts, especially since we're the popular girls," Alice replied, her words so fast they sort of blended together. It kind of made me dizzy. Well, that and the fact that she was twirling around the room like a ballerina on crack. "Oh, those are the perfect shoes!" she squealed as she stared at my feet.

I hadn't even paid attention to what I was putting on, and I when I looked down at the shoes, I nearly cried.

They were lightish pink and completely made of glitter with a black bow on the toe and black lining around the edge where my foot goes in. They were a few inches high, too, but that didn't really bother me. "Alice, I am not wearing these!" I protested.

"Need I remind you of my earlier threat?" she smiled sweetly. I glared at her as I pulled the stupid pink, glittery heels off of my feet.

I was really starting to hate Halloween.

The rest of the day went by slow and boring. Alice dragged Bella around the whole campus to finish her strange plans, and to get the boys to wear their costumes. They all put up one hell of a fight, but I couldn't blame them. Alice didn't let us see our dates/boyfriends at all because she declared that it was "bad luck."

Something must really be wrong in the girl's head because I found that to be completely ridiculous. The worst part of the day, however, was the fact that we had to be in the same room as Tanya. She continuously complained about her dress, and the hairstyle Alice wanted to give her.

The dress was actually rather beautiful. It was long, brown, and flowed beautifully. Alice had the idea of giving Tanya brown curls for her hair, too. But of course she complained about that. I mean seriously, she would have looked more like a Greek Goddess rather than Medusa.

"I don't wanna wear this ugly rag," Tanya whined again as she stood in front of the mirror in the dress. I was close, very close, to beating the girl with the cepter that went with her costume. I wish my dress was as decent as hers. "I want another dress."

"You don't get another dress," Alice screeched at her, having finally lost her patience. She was obviously extremely frustrated with Tanya since she'd been whining the whole time and refused to hold still when Alice tried to do her work.

"But I want another one!" She actually stamped her foot like a toddler.

"Tanya, shut up and hold still! I'm trying to work," Alice screamed in exasperation.

"I don't like your work. This dress is disgusting and I don't want to wear that stupid wig." I was starting to get very annoyed with her high-pitched, nasally voice and briefly wondered what caused her voice to sound so...gross.

Bella, Rose, and I were sitting on Alice's couch, finally done for the day and just relaxing as we watched the beauty and the beast in front of us, arguing. Obviously Alice was the beauty.

"Tanya, I stayed up all night to make this," Alice said.

"Damn I hate that girl," I muttered quietly.

"Why is Edward even going with her?" Bella asked, sounding legitimately confused. I couldn't blame her.

"Tanya and Edward have some kind of 'on and off' affair. They're not together, but they are. I don't know, it's hard to explain," Rose said, shrugging.

"So, she's sort of like his girlfriend?" Bella asked in mortification.

"No. He only needs her as a date sometimes or for other things. Most of the time he just ignores her. It's kind of disgusting, actually, but Edward doesn't deal well with girls.

"No kidding," I grumbled, remembering what I had seen in Bella's mind. Bella elbowed me.

"Yeah, well, from what I've seen, Edward just doesn't know what to do when a girl develops real feelings for him. Maybe one day he'll fall in love. Then he might drop that bitch," Rose said as she glared at Tanya the beast, who was currently telling Alice that the dress didn't really compliment her 'traits' or accent her 'amazing features.' I wondered what the hell traits she thought she had.

She was clearly delusional.

"Why did you make such an ugly dress for me? I want to look gorgeous like usual, and not like you," Tanya said in disgust. All of us were silent after that, except Tanya who continued to complain and whine as the rest of us sat frozen. Alice stared at Tanya with a blank expression on her face.

I had a feeling she would get angry soon and was sort of pissed that she had dropped the scissors she had been holding. Maybe if she hadn't, she could have...persuaded Tanya to leave.

"Ugh, every year this stupid tramp has to go and do this. No matter what Alice dresses her up as, she complains," Rose mumbled, getting up and going to Alice's side and beginning to pull her away.

"Hey! Where are you going with her? I need that dress to be done by tomorrow and she still has a lot of work to do," Tanya's annoyed voice whined.

"We'll be right back," Rose said stiffly, pulling Alice out of the bedroom and dragging her to the bathroom. She beckoned for me and Bella to follow. Neither of us hesitated as we jumped up and went with them. Rose locked the door to the bathroom to make sure Tanya couldn't get in as we tried to calm her down.

First she started hyperventilating, then her eyes filled with tears and she looked like she was going to cry. After that, she began cursing words that even a sailor wouldn't use, and I idly wondered why Tanya hadn't dropped dead yet.

"I'm so sick of this!" Alice whisper-yelled. "Last year for Halloween, she complained. When I dressed her for the Christmas ball, she complained. She complained about the carnival costumes, too. Every single time I dress her, she complains. I try to change it so she's satisfied, but she still hates it!

Yet every time, she ends up wearing it anyway, and when people compliment her outfit, she smiles and takes credit for it. For my work! I've told Edward multiple times that he shouldn't bring that bitch to me ever again for costumes, but he still does. What have I done to deserve a punishment this bad?"

She looked up at the ceiling, as if she were talking to God, then began pacing up and down in her rather large bathroom.

"Why do you even bother dressing her, anyway? The dress is far too beautiful her her," I asked.

"Yeah, I know. But she's Edward's date, and I don't want my brother to have to go with someone dressed like trailer trash. I couldn't stand to see that," Alice sniffled.

"She doesn't deserve it," Bella murmured. The emotions coming through the bond spiked up. Bella was jealous. I refrained from cooing at her, and telling her how cute she was as I slipped into her mind real quick.

What I saw there made an evil smile crawl onto my lips.

Rose saw the smirk and excitedly asked, "What?"

"Bella had a genius idea," I said.

"I didn't have any ideas," Bella protested in confusion.

I ignored her. "Alice, you need to overcome that. It's not your fault that your brother dates that tramp instead of Bella," I told her soothingly, unable to wipe the smile off my face.

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You shouldn't be trying to make an ugly skank like her look beautiful. It's her own fault she looks like trash, and it's Edward's fault that he chose someone like her instead of our beautiful, sweet Bella."

"Chris," Bella warned, her jaw tense.

I continued to ignore her. If she wasn't willing to take matters into her own hands, then I would. As much as I liked Dean, he really wasn't the right one for Bella. Well, in my opinion, Bella should be with Channing Tatum, but Edward will have to do.

Eyebrows raised, Rose asked, "Did something happen that we don't know about?"

Bella yelled, "No!" at the same time I answered, "Yes."

"For some reason, I believe Chris, which is really weird," Rosalie said as she looked at Bella with an amused grin playing on her lips.

"Why would you believe Chris? Chris lies a lot. She could be making that up. I, on the other hand, can't lie, so you should believe me, not Chris," Bella was talking quickly, blurring her words, and her cheeks began tinging pink. A dead giveaway that she was lying. Both Rose and Alice knew that, and turned to look at Bella with wary, disbeliving expressions. "What?" she asked self consciously.

"I'm telling the truth. Why would I ever..." she trailed off as she saw the expressions on their faces which clearly told her that they weren't buying what she was trying to sell. Bella gave up quickly with a sigh.

Seeing her defeat, the two of them turned to me with matching excited grins. Oh, these two were such suckers for gossip. I looked at them with an arrogant smile on my face and I heard Bella release another sigh in the background as I announced, "Bella kissed Edward!" Alice and Rose sucked in deep breaths simultaneously while Bella turned away from their shocked and curious eyes.

"No way," Alice whispered.

"Shut up!" Rose exclaimed in disbelief. I smiled at them, waggling my eyebrows. "Oh my God," she whispered, covering her mouth with her hand in shock.

Somehow this was just so cliché.

"That can't be true," Alice protested before mumbling, "How did I not see that?"

"Alice, you may be a psychic in training, but that doesn't make you in the clear to not make mistakes," Rose replied.

Alice's eyes widened. "When did they kiss?"

"Remember our football game last week?" I asked.

"What? It's been more than a week?" Alice screeched.

"Why did we not know about this?" Rose glared at me.

"Hey! It's not my fault. Bella kept it from me, too. I only found out yesterday when I saw it in her mind. At least now we know why they've been acting so strange," I defended myself.

"Ah, so that's what was going on yesterday," Rose said. I nodded.

"What exactly happened?" Alice asked through narrowed eyes. I thought she'd already guessed it, and judging by her expression, she probably did but just wanted to hear it for clarification.

"He rejected her," I stated angrily.

"That bastard! He's ruining every vision of the future I have!" Alice shouted.

"Is he out of his mind? He chose that-" Rose pointed in the direction of Tanya on the other side of the door, "-over Bella? He's down right insane."

"Oh, I didn't even tell you the best part yet," I said sarcastically. "He told her he loves her. As a sister."

"I'm going to kill that son of a...wait, no, Esme's wonderful," Rose said, her voice going from pissed off to sort of regretful for almost calling Esme a bitch.

"Yeah. Anyway, I don't think you should put so much effort into Tanya's dress. Edward deserves whatever he gets, and there's no chance in hell that Tanya will ever look beautiful. Especially when Bella is there to compare to, looking like her usual gorgeous self. Hopefully Edward will kick his own ass when he realizes what an idiot he is," I said.

"What? No, no, no, we'll make her a new costume. We'll stay up all night and work on it, and then tomorrow, when Edward sees Bella, he'll realize what he's missing," Alice plotted with a cruel smirk. It wouldn't have surprised me if she began cackling evilly and rubbing her hands together. I nearly laughed as the image conjured itself in my mind, but refrained.

"No, you can't take this out on Tanya. That's just mean, you guys. Besides, I'm going with Dean and I'm not even interested in getting Edward's attention," Bella interfered, finally speaking up after having been quiet for a while.

Rose shook her her. "Tanya is a bitch. She deserves it."

"And don't even bother pretending you don't care for Edward," Alice added.

"And I know you don't care for Dean as much as you do for Edward," I finished.

"But-" Bella started but was cut off by Alice.

"Hush. I don't want to hear it. I promise we won't make her look completely awful - she does a good job of that on her own anyway - we'll just make sure she looks worse than you, though that won't be hard considering you're gorgeous and she's hideous," Alice said.

"Now you need your beauty sleep, so go to bed," Rose slapped Bella on the ass.

"So do you," Bella remarked, rubbing the spot where Rose just slapped her.

"No we don't, hun, because we have boyfriends. They have to take what they can get or they don't get any," Rose put an arm around her and began leading her out of the bathroom. Alice and I followed behind them. "You just need to go to your room and relax now. Maybe you could even look for those pictures you promised Mr. Decour - I'm looking forward to that lesson. Now, go.

We'll take care of everything." Rose stopped at the door and pushed her out of the room. "Goodnight, Bella. Love you." She shut the door quickly and turned to face Tanya. "Let's work on your costume," she said sweetly.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"_I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world, life is plastic, it's fantas-_" I blinked.

"God, Alice, can't you set your damn alarm to a normal song?" I heard Rose mumble. I opened my eyes and discovered that I was laying on the floor. No wonder my back hurt like hell. I sat up slowly and looked at Rose, who was sitting on the floor with her head on the little table next to the couch, which apparently Alice was still sleeping on.

Her pink iPhone was continuously blaring out that awful noise, which would no doubt be my theme song tonight.

"Morning," I muttered with a yawn. Rose nodded, still half asleep.

"_Come on Barbie, let's go party, uh uh uh, ye-_"

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Rose was suddenly wide awake. She grabbed the phone and threw it at Alice, effectively waking her up.

"Are you crazy? Don't throw that, it's precious!" Alice scolded.

"I don't fucking care, Alice. If I ever have to listen to that stupid song again, I will throw your phone at a wall, or even better, out the window," Rose replied angrily.

"You wouldn't dare..." I tuned the rest of Alice's threat out and slumped back down on the floor.

Rose and Alice argued for at least 5 minutes before they seemed to be awake enough to realize how absolutely stupid the whole argument was.

"What time is it?" I asked when it was quiet.

"Six thirty AM," Alice answered. I groaned. Not only did I have to get ready for school, I also got only two hours of sleep.

But it was well worth it. I looked toward Alice's mannequin, which was standing next to the couch and had on the dress what we somehow managed to create. It wasn't as ugly as I wished it had been, actually it wasn't ugly at all, but it wasn't beautiful either.

I'm beginning to think it's impossible for Alice to actually make something remotely ugly. It was, however, a perfect Halloween costume, but I was sure Tanya wouldn't think of it that way. "I'm impressed with our work, ladies!" Alice said as she hopped up and walked over to her ridiculously large closet. She pulled her school uniform out and marched to her bathroom.

"You guys should get ready quick," she advised before the door closed behind her.

I reluctantly pulled myself up and off the floor. I was on my way to my room, but I wasn't really awake yet, so I didn't see the person walking toward me. Apparently neither did he, because a few seconds later, I collided with him and fell straight on my butt.

"Ow! I think I broke my ass," I complained.

"Now that would be a shame," Dylan said as he got up.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why would that be a shame?" I asked curiously.

He looked down at me, "Well we wouldn't want your nice tight ass to be broken, right?" he asked with a serious expression. He offered his hand to help me get up.

"I bet you don't want that. If my ass was broken, it'd ruin all your fantasies about me," I retorted as I took his hand. He pulled me up in such a swift motion that I barely noticed before his face was mere inches from mine.

"Exactly," he breathed with a seductive smile. I inhaled his scent and my eyes were directed to his luscious kissable lips. For some unknown reason, I felt the strongest urge to press my lips to his, bite his bottom lip, and then suck on it to ease the weird stinging my lips now possessed. The annoying tingle increased each moment I stared at his lips.

But I didn't do that. Mostly because Dylan abruptly pulled away and patted me on the head, said, "See ya tonight, kiddo," and took off. I glared at his retreating form - though not without noticing that he had quite a nice ass himself - and thought of various ways I could make him suffer.

My thoughts were cut short when I realized that I had been standing in the hallway like an idiot for minutes and still needed to get ready for school.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"I can't wait to see you dressed as Barbie tonight," Damon whispered in my ear as we sat outside for lunch, having a picnic. He'd pulled me close so I was sitting between his legs with my back leaning against his chest. His arms were hugging my torso tight and his chin was rested on my shoulder. For some reason, I wasn't exactly comfortable with it.

I mean, he's my boyfriend, it shouldn't bother me, but it did. I internally sighed before glancing around at the others.

Bella was having a quiet discussion with Dean and Dario, seeming to be explaining something to them. Alice was straddling Jasper's lap with her tiny arms on his shoulders as they gazed deeply into each other's eyes as if no one else even existed but the two of them. Tanya, unfortunately, had made an appearance.

She came to ask about her dress, to which we answered by telling her that it would be a surprise. We hoped she'd leave, but figured now that she was over here, she wouldn't. And we were right. She insisted on staying to massage Edward's shoulders, murmuring to him how muscular he was and all that little girl crap. Seriously, it just made the picnic that much more awkward.

Even Edward looked uncomfortable and in no way did he look like he was enjoying himself. In fact, I saw his eyes flick to Bella many times, but judging by his thoughtful expression, it seemed like he hadn't even noticed he was doing it. Rose and Emmett were the worst of all. It's sad to say that they topped Tanya, but watching them makeout was never on my To-Do List.

Well, I guess I should make one and check it off anyway since it's now completed. Ew.

My eyes wandered over to Dylan and Kate. The two of them were actually rather cute. She was trying to teach him something in sign language, but he kept messing up. Dylan caught my eye and sent me a wink. I scowled at him in return and leaned closer to Damon, trying to ignore the discomfort it made me feel.

The rest of the school day was very uneventful. In Specialized Magic class, we discussed the physical changes that have occurred with Bella and I, much to my amusement. For once I could sit there and do nothing since the whole thing was about me. I think Laurent was starting to get rather frustrated with me, which really didn't bother me whatsoever.

He actually looked kind of sexy when he kept sending me glowers and scowls.

Ugh, I cannot believe I thought that about a teacher.

After school, Alice dragged all of us back to her room and soon enough, we were all assembled there. "Okay, people, I have planned this evening down to a tee, and if anything goes wrong, I will behead the person responsible for the disruption," Alice said in a strict, slightly threatening voice as she paced in front of us.

After school, Alice dragged all of us back to her room and soon enough, we were all assembled there. "Okay people, I have this evening planned down to a tee, and if anything goes wrong, I will behead the person responsible for the disruption," Alice said in a strict, slightly threatening voice as she paced in front of us.

"You guys will go to your rooms and put your costumes on. You have exactly-" she looked at her phone, "-2 hours, 17 minutes, and 53 seconds as of now." Emmett chuckled and Alice rushed over to him, getting as close to his face as her tiny stature allowed against his huge form. "Is there something amusing to you, Emmett?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"N-no," Emmett stuttered immediately, clearly intimidated by the small girl. I've said it a million times before, but clearly it's necessary for me to say it again: Alice is an evil pixie.

"Good. You girls will camp out in my bathroom. We need to do hair and makeup. Everything will go by my rules tonight. If not, be sure to lock your doors at night," she warned. Her voice was so low and threatening that I nearly saluted. "Does everyone understand?" she almost shouted. When all of us nodded quickly, she continued,

"Okay. The girls stay here. Chris, Kate go into the bathroom, you two are up first. Boys, I expect you to come and check in in 2 hours. You will not see your date until the party, so don't come bursting in here. Any question? No? Good. Now go."

I've never seen the boys run so fast. Alice must have seriously scared them. I reluctantly moved my legs to the bathroom and saw that Alice had the counters piled with makeup. There were two chairs in the room and I saw that Kate was sitting in one, so I went over and plopped myself in the other. Alice was still in her room, instructing the other three girls.

After a moment, she came into the room with Rosalie strutting beside her, leaving my poor sister in the other room with Tanya of all people.

Throughout the next hour, I was poked, prodded, painted, brushed, braided, and only God knows what else. Alice discovered that I had long fingernails and gave me a French manicure. Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but instead of the usual white, she put a glitter pink on instead with a pink flower.

When she was finally done, she beamed at me, "I am such a genius! Go look at yourself in the mirror." I sighed deeply as I pried myself from the chair and looked down as I made my way to the mirror. When I got there, I took a deep breath and looked up. My first reaction was to scream, which I did. After a few minutes, though, I realized I actually looked really good.

I didn't really have a problem with dressing up at all, but I found the loads of pink poured on me to be highly disturbing.

"You look nice," Kate managed to tell me, even though Rose was busy painting her lips in some kind of gold glitter lipstick.

"Now get out of here, I need Bella," Alice said as she literally shoved me out of the bathroom. "Put on your dress and then pull on one of my robes. I don't want any of the guys seeing the complete look." I simply complied with no arguments and no questions as I motioned for Bella to move.

She looked very bored, not that I could blame her, since Tanya was telling her a story about how she got her favorite pair of shoes. Bella actually looked relieved to be able to go to Alice's torture session.

Now I had to endure Tanya's 101 boring stories starring herself and occasionally Kate and Irina. I was almost asleep when I heard a knock at the door.

Alice dashed out of the bathroom. "Who is it?" she asked through the door.

"Jasper," came a muffled reply. Alice opened the door.

"I thought our dates aren't supposed to see us?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm not wearing any makeup yet, so it doesn't matter, duh," Alice hissed, then turned to face Jasper. "Oh, you look wonderful! Hm. There's one thing missing." She walked over to her dresser while I inspected Jasper.

He was wearing the Hogwarts uniform with a long Hogwarts cloak overtop. It didn't look bad on him. Actually, he looked like he really belonged to Hogwarts rather than FASGS. He had on plain black shoes and a pair of those round Harry Potter eye glasses. Even though I already knew that's exactly who he was supposed to be, I could tell just by looking at him.

Alice came back and grinned happily before she ordered Jasper to sit on the couch. After he sat down, she put something on his head and fidgeted with it for a moment before she stepped back and eyed her work with a smile. I burst out laughing. She'd put a black wig on him.

I guess my laughter made Rose, Bella, and Kate all curious because suddenly I saw three heads poking out of the bathroom. They looked at him, only to start laughing too. Black hair look really ridiculous on Jasper. He simply rolled his eyes, ignoring us.

"Okay, Jazzy. You and the other boys will wait in front of the festival house. We'll meet you there," Alice said, pushing him out of the door.

"What? Since when are we not going together? Isn't it like a general rule that the guy picks up the girl?" Jasper protested, though he made no move to fight against Alice's tiny arms.

"Yes, but not tonight," Alice replied and closed the door in Jasper's face before he had a chance to say anything more. She moved back into the bathroom, glaring at, and shushing, the three giggling girls. Until now, I hadn't even noticed that Rose was already wearing her black wig to go with her costume, so it seemed that Kate was done and Rosalie had taken her place.

"When is it gonna be my turn?" Tanya whined.

Alice's head popped out of the bathroom. "You'll be last, sweetie. The best things are always last," she gave a smile so sickly sweet that I swear I felt a toothache coming on. Tanya grinned stupidly and suprisingly shut up for now.

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

"Damon and Dean," I heard Dean's voice. Before I even saw it coming, Alice was out of the bathroom and pushing me in it.

"What the-" I started.

"Just stay in there until I allow you to come out," Alice hissed. I sighed and stayed in the bathroom, and turned to look at the three girls. All of them seemed to be done.

Rose looked surprisingly good with black hair and blood red lips, and Kate's hair was just phenomenal. Bella looked sweet and innocent with her beautiful hairstyle, but once the dress was on, that would change.

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**_A/N:_ Like? Love? Hate? You already know what I want :D SO in the next chapter we will get to the party and I think I'm going to do that in Bella's Pov or maybe someone elses ... who knows? Umm... ah yes, next time I will also put the links on my profile so you can be amazed by ALice's work aka the costumes. Other than that I don't have any more to say, so I'll jsut say bye bye and peace**


	12. Dramatic Changes

**_A/N:_ Hello my darling readers :D Sooo some of you might have noticed it that Fanfiction is currently not working the way it is supposed to. I don't know how long I'm already sitting on this new chapter hoping that this stupid Error type 2 will vanish -.- It never happened but I got so impatient, that I looked for a way to work around it aaaand... it worked as you can obviously see. So as a special treat, I made an extra long chapter. I mean reeeaaaally extra long. The longest chapter so far. I'm really proud of myself and I hope you are too.**

**So no more senseless talking anymore, just enjoy the chapter!

* * *

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_Chris POV_

"You guys look hot," I complimented my sister and Kate.

"So do you," Kate smiled at me while Bella stared at me with a small, almost amused, smile on her beautiful face.

"What?" I asked her in confusion.

"I never thought you'd look so good with blond hair. In fact, you look better than Barbie since your tan is real."

"Just a tiny glimpse? Alice, come on! We won't tell the others. It can be our little secret," I heard someone beg from the other side of the door. It sounded like Damon or Dean. Maybe it was both.

"No! Now get out or I'll look for other boys to be their dates. You and I both know that there are quite a few guys who would _love_ to switch places with you," Alice replied strictly. I could picture her dainty form glaring at them in a menacing way. I rolled my eyes at the same time as Bella did and Rose let out a giggle.

A moment later, Alice came prancing back into the bathroom and pushed me back out. "If someone knocks, just open the door," she told me, then shut the door in my face. Hopefully this horror would be over soon.

Ten minutes later, there was yet _another_ knock at the door. I practically ran to it in happiness of escaping Tanya's stories.

This time it was Dylan.

"Wow. You look...yeah," I told him when I saw what he wore. It wasn't a bad costume or anything. In fact, I found it kind of genius since I had been curious as to how a Zeus costume was supposed to look, but for some reason, I had been hoping that he would be bare-chested.

"Who is it?" I heard Alice's voice shout from the bathroom.

"Dylan," I called back. Then I noticed that he hadn't made a move to enter the room yet. He was just standing in the entrance with his mouth wide open, gaping like a fish. I stepped in front of him and looked at him closely through narrowed eyes, trying to find out what his problem was. His eyes instantly focused on mine, but when they did, his lips curved down in a slight frown. He moved closer to me, enabling me to inhale his delicious scent. The frown on his face eased. I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Contacts," he breathed, his voice sounding like the one word was some sort of explanation. He must have been talking about the bright blue contacts that Alice had forced into my eyes.

My mind suddenly drifted to the distance between us, or lack there of. I would just have to lean a little forward to press my lips to his. Dylan's thoughts must have been close to mine, because I saw his eyes constantly glance at my lips.

"Alice, when is it gonna be my turn?" I heard Tanya's annoying voice whine. I flinched at the sound of it, then sighed in frustration. That girl was seriously annoying. I focused back on Dylan and saw that he had closed his eyes.

I took a step back. "Alice, what am I supposed to do with him now?" I yelled in her direction. Somehow the words managed to sound suggestive in my mind, but it was probably just me.

"Give him the flash. It's on my dresser," Alice replied.

Suddenly anxious to get away from Dylan's presence, I quickly stumbled over to Alice's dresser, passing a rather pissed off-looking Tanya. I picked up the plastic lightning bolt that had a small rope on it so Dylan could sling it over his shoulder. I passed Tanya again, who now had earplugs in her ears and was bobbing her strawberry blond head to something that sounded like Ke$ha's _Take It Off_.

That didn't surprise me.

"Here you go," I told Dylan lazily as I handed him the lightning bolt, or the 'flash' as Alice referred to it as.

"Thanks," he said as he slung it over his shoulder.

And then he stood there again, looking at me deeply - intently.

"You really should stop staring at me like that," I commented. I thought it'd come out loudly, or at least at an average volume, but my voice was barely even a whisper.

He ignored me, continuing to penetrate me with his deep blue eyes. "You know, even when you're dressed to look completely like Barbie, you still manage to be beautiful," he said quietly.

"Um, thanks?" I replied, unsure of why it sounded like a question.

"But I like your real eye color better," he said, gazing into my eyes with a wistful expression on his face.

I let out a shaky breath. Whatever was wrong with me in that moment had to be fixed.

Just like earlier, Dylan was suddenly close enough for me to inhale his scent. This time, when he leaned even closer, I didn't dare to move away.

I knew it wouldn't end well, but I couldn't move. I was locked there in his eyes. My mind screamed at me to move but my body wouldn't listen.

"Are you scared of me?" Dylan asked me softly, lifting his hand to my face.

I frowned at that. Scared of him? How could I be?

My frown caused him to chuckle quietly. He delicately moved his fingers to my forehead and smoothed away the little pucker that always appeared on my forehead when I frowned. His hand stayed on my face as he began lightly stroking my cheek before sliding his hand down to my chin and lifting my face up slightly. His beautiful blue eyes were almost burning with something. I wasn't sure what it was. Longing, maybe.

"You know," he said again, "even when you frown, you're quite adorable," his delicious hot breath fanned across my face and my thoughts went momentarily blank.

I blinked, but before I could react anymore to his words, his lips were on mine. A second later, he pulled back a little. It was a sweet kiss, short and kind of romantic. But I wasn't a romance-type girl. He'd only drawn back the tiniest bit, probably to measure my reaction, so I swiftly knotted my fingers in his hair and pulled his lips back to mine. The moment our lips united again - this time in a more forceful manner - I had the strangest feeling running through me.

It was the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you drink alcohol, only warmer and fuzzier. The kind of relief you feel when you make it home after an extremely hard day at school, only more relieving. The tingling in your toes you get when you're excited, only tinglier and all over.

This was a toe curling, breath taking, heart stopping kind of kiss and it was amazing.

But so wrong. So _so_ wrong.

Somewhere in a far, dark corner of my mind I could hear Angel Chris protesting. But the feel of Dylan's soft yet rough lips was just too consuming. He tasted like nothing I'd ever had the pleasure of tasting before. It wasn't just a sweet aroma, but also somehow luscious with the slightest edge of saltiness that made him taste exactly as he smelled.

But then a very new sensation hit me and it had nothing to do with the kiss.

I suddenly felt like I - or rather _we_ - were being watched. But that wasn't the only thing. It was as if I had a completely new sense. My ears perked a little at the sound of footsteps approaching.

Instantly, I let go of Dylan and took a step back. I turned in the room but didn't see anyone.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

I looked at him and saw some of my pink lipstick smudged on his lips. My ears twitched and the footsteps became a little louder, closer. I reached up and wiped the lipstick off of his lips. While I did that, he watched me through hooded eyes. I wiped the sides of my mouth and as I did that, something else hit me. The reason why I was trying to cover this up in the first place: it was wrong. I shouldn't have kissed Dylan back. I could have simply taken the opportunity as an excuse to slap him across that pretty face of his, yet here I was, trying to fix my make up.

The footsteps finally came to halt and I looked up and saw Edward standing behind Dylan. My eyes widened in shock before I decided to whip out my incredibly awesome acting skills.

"Well, I guess you're all set to go and punish humanity, Zeus," I said jokingly to Dylan and pushed him out the door.

He leaned back, making it more difficult for me to get him all the way out of the door. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" he asked lightly.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Edward's eyes widening. "Yes, I'm positive," I hissed.

Dylan chuckled and pecked my lips quickly before taking off.

"What the hell! You kissed Dylan?" Edward asked me with narrowed eyes.

"No, I didn't. _He_ kissed _me_. Did you not just see that?" I argued, acting as if I had no clue what he was talking about.

Even though we're twins and Bella's a horrible liar, I'm actually rather good at lying. But for some reason, Edward just didnt want to believe me. He threw me a disbelieving look and I raised my eyebrows in response.

"Don't even try to deny it, Chris. Dylan didn't even try to hide it," Edward said, sending me a crooked smile. I knew from Bella's mind that she inwardly swoons every time she sees that smile, but all it did was annoy me.

And piss me off.

"Then why'd you even bother asking if you already knew?" I asked and scowled at him.

Edward shrugged lightly.

"And why are you reading his mind anyway? I thought you didn't always do that. Ugh, you're just like Jasper, invading everyone's privacy."

"Well, actually, I didn't read anyones mind. Dylan just had that goofy smile on his face when you pushed him out and I know what that means. You just verified what I wanted to know."

"You're such a-"

"Hey, it's not my fault you fell for it."

"Whatever," I retorted, glaring for a minute before turning back to the bathroom. "Alice, what does Edward need?"

Alice's little head poked out and she eyed Edward in his costume. It was the stereotypical vampire costume.

Well, maybe not that much, but still. It was just a pair of black pants with a white long sleeved shirt and a red velvet vest thing over top and a black cape that's red on the inside. It even had that ridiculous high collar thing.

"Put some makeup on him," she instructed, ignoring the outraged, shocked expression on Edward's face that clearly meant he was going to protest.

I smirked evilly and pulled him over to Alice's dresser to start my work right away.

"Um, why isn't Tanya in the bathroom?" he asked, looking at the back of her stupid curly head. She hadn't noticed anything since she was still listening to music. I could hear it from where I was standing and knew that it was _Party in the USA_ by Miley Cyrus.

"Because Alice is still working on Bella," I answered as I started covering his face in pale white makeup.

He nodded absentmindedly. It was silent for a few moments while I continued painting his face before he spoke again. "You know, even though it's kind of wrong since you're both in relationships, I'm kind of glad that Dylan finally seems to be admitting his feelings for you."

I dropped the makeup tube, making a blob of the white goop squirt out. I would have laughed if not for my serious shock. "What?"

"Dylan has taken interest in you for quite a while , ever since you arrived, actually," Edward told me honestly as I picked up the tube. "He was just being too...narrow-minded to notice."

I looked at Edward with an expression full of disbelief. "Are you sure you're talking about Dylan and not yourself?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you are crushing on my insanely beautiful, sweet, innocent twin, but you're being too stubborn to actually admit it just because she's a little younger than what you're usually into," I told him.

"What? No, I am not 'crushing' on her. I care about her, yes, but I only love her like a sister," he said with a shocked expression.

"Um, no. _I_ love her like a sister," I said, emphasizing the 'I'. "You, my dear friend, love her in the dirty fantasy-having way." Seeing the slightly guilty expression on his face made me squeal a little. "Oh, no, you really do have dirty fantasies with Bella in them? Shame on you. She's too innocent to be playing a main character in your mental porns."

The tips of Edward's ears turned red and it faded down to his cheeks, making them have a slight pink tinge to them. I laughed at his blush before turning serious.

"What exactly are you waiting for? Just go for it," I encouraged. I detested playing matchmaker, but Edward was just so...oblivious, and Bella really deserved to get something she wanted for once. I owed her for all the things she's done for me.

"I can't," he sighed, running a hand over his face desperately. "I've never dated a girl like Bella before. She really is like you just said, insanely beautiful, sweet, and innocent. I don't know if I'm the right choice for her. I've only ever dated girls like Tanya, you know. The ones who aren't looking for any kind of commitment. I don't have to be overly considerate, and therefore I can't mess up. But Bella's not the same. I just...I don't know."

The pained expression on his face almost made me feel sorry for him.

Almost. After all, I was on Bella's side, not his.

"You know, Edward, Bella's not going to wait forever for you to get your shit together. You better make your move soon or you'll be replaced faster than you can say Chihuahua."

"Why would I say Chihuahua?"

"You just said it didn't you? And now imagine if Bella had thrown you out of her heart just before you finished saying it." I watched him closely while saying that to him, narrowing my eyes. He winced visibly. "It's a painful thought, isn't it?" I asked lightly, kind of enjoying the pain I caused him. Anything for Bella.

Edward nodded his head slightly and I smiled in satisfaction of finally getting through his thick skull.

_Hallelujah!_

_Third POV_

Master stood by the window once again watching the campus. Although the sky was already beginning to darken, the student body was still quite busy for tonight was the Halloween dance. Master knew that all of the students would be attending that dance.

He'd always found it rather ridiculous. Master didn't like preposterous holidays like Halloween.

Master's minions were all scattered around the room, each engaged in their own activities. Nightmare and Houdini were invisible in a corner, more than likely doing inappropriate things with one another. Blossom was perched on the floor with her legs crossed on a mat and her eyes closed as she meditated. She seemed to be nervous about her upcoming task.

Master smiled slightly. Blossom had chosen today's date to do what he'd asked of her. Then Master's smile faded as he realized that Shadow as not in the room. He was never really seen, but Master usually felt his presence. Now there was nothing.

Before Master could question people about his location, the shadows in the room flickered, letting the few people there know that Shadow had entered. The grey tinged man stepped forward, revealing himself to the others and leaving behind the shadows.

"Where have you been?" the voice of the Master rang out. At times like this when he was pleased, his voice sounded more melodic and soft, although it never lost it's dangerous edge when around his minions.

"Well, I wanted to double check before we started with our new plans," the wispy, barely-there voice of Shadow answered. "There is something you may want to know about Christabel Swan's relationships."

Nightmare and Houdini - both looking messy with their clothes twisted and buttons done up in the wrong places - turned visible and the latter took a step toward Shadow.

"I've already told him that Damon Boness is her boyfriend," Houdini sneered at Shadow.

"I only have things to add to that information," Shadow said calmly. Out of all of Master's minions, Shadow was the only one capable of keeping calm no matter what.

Houdini huffed but Master ignored him. "What do you have to say?"

"Well, if we're going through with this plan, we should target Dylan Cullen instead. I saw him and Christabel together a few moments ago."

Nightmare sighed in mock sadness. "So young and already so spoiled. Who knew teenagers had love affairs, too?" she said rhetorically.

"Does that mean we have to wait before we set the second plan in motion?" Blossom asked, joining the group and looking at Master with her big eyes.

"Why would we do that? Now that we know we have to change one target, I don't want to wait," Houdini complained.

"You will have to wait," Master said before turning to Shadow, "Isabella should be checked again as well in case we have the wrong target there, too. We must make sure we have the correct targets."

"I'm on my way," Shadow said, disappearing as he returned to the darkness of the shadows.

"Blossom, are you ready to accomplish your task?" Master asked her. She nodded as confidently as she could. "Well, then, what are you waiting for? Go now." She turned to leave but Master's voice stopped her. "Oh, and Blossom?" She looked at him. "Be fast." And with that, the woman scampered out of the room, her short blond hair swishing around.

_Bella POV_

"Just go," Alice urged, pushing us out of the door, "we'll catch up with you soon enough."

"But Alice-" I started, only to be cut off by her.

"Hush. Now go. We'll be there soon." And with that said, Alice slammed the door in our faces. It seems that she's done that a lot today, but I'd been hoping that she wouldn't continue. It was rude.

The only person at this point that was left to get ready was Tanya.

"Lets go, Bells. Alice and Tanya," she sneered the latter's name, "will be there," Rose told me, grasping my arm and dragging me along with her.

"She should have gotten to Tanya's outfit sooner," Kate said. From the corner of my eye, I saw Chris rolling her eyes, but at the same time, she had an evil smile playing on her lips. Somehow I thought that it had something to do with the new costume they made for Tanya. I hadn't seen it yet, but since Chris had been involved, I could be sure that Tanya wouldn't be happy about the outcome of her outfit.

"Lets go surprise our boys. We look sexy as hell," Rose shouted.

I looked at all of us. Rose was right, we did look sexy. I definitely didn't look like the Juliet that Shakespeare had been thinking of in my high-thigh length dress with sleeves that flare and go transparent at the elbows. The front sort of looked like a corset with silver ribbons doing it up and the rest of the dress was a beautiful dark royal blue.

Rosalie...well, Rose was the sluttiest Snow White I've ever seen. But she still managed to look so breathtakingly beautiful that it wasn't fair.

"What kind of Snow White are you anyway? Snow White is not a slut!" Chris exclaimed, laughing as she elbowed Rose lightly.

Rose laughed, "Sure she is. She lived with seven little men, remember? Don't you think she would have taken advantage of that situation?" she joked.

"Hmm, you might be onto something there," Chris mused.

"And what about our Juliet? I think back in the day it was scandalous to show skin on your ankle, let alone how much Bella's revealing," Kate commented.

"Well then, Bella is a _really_ easy Juliet," Rose said.

"Hopefully not," Chris said before turning to me and looking at me strictly. "You will not kiss Dean today, understood?"

"Yes, Dad," I rolled my eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Well, lets go. I can't wait to show Dylan my costume," Kate grinned excitedly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Chris tense. How odd.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Rose cheered, hooking her arm through Chris' as Chris linked arms with me. I sighed and hooked my arm through Kate's.

The festival house was a rather far walk from the dorms. It was somewhere behind the elementary school, and while we walked there, I started to wonder about the size of the campus.

We weren't the only ones on our way to the Halloween dance, but we were definitely the only ones who received so much attention.

It looked like the majority of the girls were thinking along the same lines as Alice judging by their outfits. They must have thought that they could use this opportunity to dress up in something they thought was pretty, and for a lot of girls, slutty. But even I had to admit that we looked much better than them. Some of the others stuck to the traditional Halloween spirit and were dressed up as monsters, witches, goblins and ghouls.

I let out a deep sigh. I've never liked being the center of attention - in fact I much preferred being hidden behind a book - but with these costumes, there was no way that I could avoid it.

"I can see Dylan!" Kate squealed, bouncing up and down. Beside me, I heard Chris sigh.

Somehow I got the feeling that something had happened between Chris and Dylan, and that wasn't just because I felt a small wave of guilt coming from her. I could have easily picked it out of her mind, but that would just be an invasion of privacy. Instead, I concentrated on the boys who were standing in front of a very Halloween-spirited building. It had spider webs and smoke and everything that makes it very Halloweenish. I could even hear one of those machines with evil laughs coming out of it. The guys stood together in a group, laughing at something, and didn't even notice our approach. I eyed each of their costumes, and both Chris and I released snorts at the same time.

"Is that Damon with blond hair?" I asked in amusement.

"I think it is," Chris answered, laughing.

"That is even worse than Jasper with black hair," Rose commented.

"You know, the black hair doesn't look bad on him, it's just that it seems to be all over the place," Kate pointed out.

"You look better with black hair, Rose," Chris told her, letting out a giggle.

It seemed like Alice had purposely made us girls look better than our dates. Although, Emmett's prince costume really wasn't that bad. Actually, none of them were _bad_, we just looked better.

Now that we were in hearing range, and the guys still hadn't noticed us, Rose pulled us to a sudden halt and gestured for us to be quiet.

"Seriously, Edward, you're the only one here that doesn't have a hot date, and to make it worse, she'll be dressed up as _Medusa._ I feel sorry for you, man," we heard Emmett joke as Kate tensed on my side. Right, she and Tanya were friends. I sort of forgot about that.

"Shut up, Emmett," Rose told him, drawing the guys' attention to us.

The second their eyes fell on us, all of their jaws dropped. Chris and Rose laughed, while I started feeling uncomfortable in my insanely short dress.

"Um, where are Alice and Tanya?" Jasper asked. He was the only one who didn't seem to be drooling at the moment, though I could see that he was impressed with our outfits.

"She's still working on Tanya's costume," Chris answered with an evil edge in her voice. Whatever it was made Edward cringe.

"They won't be long, though," I continued, sending a warm smile to Jasper.

"Actually, we're here now," Alice's cheery voice rang out from behind me.

"Damn, you're fast," Chris said, shocked, and I nodded in agreement.

"I know, I'm a genius. And now, presenting, our wonderful Medusa," Alice announced, pulling Tanya from behind her and letting us all see Alice's masterpiece.

The silence that ensued was hilarious. In fact, the only reason we all kept our mouths shut was to prevent us from laughing.

Tanya looked at all of us with a meaningful expression.

"You look...great, Tanya," Chris managed to pull out before she snapped her mouth shut again. I could see that she wasn't capable of keeping quiet much longer, and she clearly noticed that as well. "Come on, Ken, lets go inside," she grabbed Damon, and as soon as she did, she broke into laughter. We all looked at her in disbelief. She pointed to Damon, "He's wearing a plastic wig!"

Now that she'd released her laughter, the rest of us couldn't hold it in any longer and we all started laughing hysterically, even Tanya, who thought that we were laughing at the plastic wig. The wig was funny, but it wasn't the real reason for our laughter.

Okay, not all of us laughed. Kate didn't seem to find it funny. She had let go of my arm and approached Tanya while the rest of us grabbed our dates and hurried inside.

Well, all except for Edward and Dylan. Those poor boys. I could only imagine Tanya's outburst when Kate told her that she looked like...well, Medusa.

The room inside the building was huge. On the right side was a buffet with several tables, making it look like a creepy version of a restaurant. All of the tables were decorated with black spider webs and some of the chairs had skeletons on them. The stuff looked more realistic than I'd ever seen before, but it looked great. Most of the room was orange, but there was also a lot of black - standard Halloween colors. The left side of the room, which was where the entrance was, looked more like a Disco. The lights continuously changed from orange to red and there were pumpkins floating around, laughing evilly. I thought I even saw a ghost on the dance floor, but I couldn't be sure. At the back was a door where a few people stood, looking too afraid to walk through.

"Alice, what's behind that door?" I asked curiously.

"It's the maze," she answered.

"Maze?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah, kind of like a haunted maze instead of a haunted house," Dean informed me.

"Oh, sweet! Let's go check it out!" Chris cheered.

"No way!" I protested at the same time as Alice. All of us looked at her in confusion. She didn't seem like the type to be scared of things like haunted houses and haunted mazes.

"I have this evening planned out perfectly, remember?" She gave us a look. "We will do this my way, and my way is that we go and eat first."

"You seriously planned everything?" Chris asked, sighing.

"Well, no, not everything. I didn't plan what you do in your assigned alone time with your date," Alice answered. I just rolled my eyes at her as she lead us over to one of the unoccupied tables. We took our seats, with Emmett having to push a skeleton from a chair so he could sit.

"No sitting, Emmett. You guys have to get us food and something to drink," Alice instructed.

"Alice, I'm not even hungry," I said.

"I don't care. Everyone has to at least eat the pumpkin pie. It's tradition."

"Why?"

"You'll see," Emmett flashed me a somewhat creepy grin. Chris and I looked at each other as the guys left, but shrugged it off at the same time.

A few minutes later, the guys returned with our pie.

"Bon appetit," Alice laughed, carefully poking her pie with a fork. In the second she did that, worms started to form inside it. Alice screeched and shoved the plate away from her.

"What the hell? Is the school trying to poison us?" Chris asked while the others laughed at Alice.

"Nope. Most of the pies aren't edible. Only a few people ever get lucky enough to actually be able to eat it," Damon informed her, poking his own pie. It turned black and a tiny white skeleton and reached out of it before the whole thing crawled out and jumped off the plate, and ran away.

We all watched as the tiny skeleton ran away. Emmett and Jasper burst out laughing, while I sat there a little confused. That had to have been the weirdest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life.

"My turn," Rose announced as she grabbed her fork and poked the pie. At first, I thought nothing happened, but then I saw smoke start coming out of it.

"Everyone step away!" Dean shouted. He and Damon hastily jumped out of their seats and took a few steps back. All of us remaining at the table looked at them in confusion.

"Believe me, you guys do not want to be near that thing," Damon warned. He pulled Chris from her chair and positioned himself between her and the table. I just got up and stood beside Dean while the others hurried to get themselves up as well, now that the smoke became thicker.

And not a second too late. As soon as the table was empty, Rose's pie exploded. There was thick black smoke all around the table and I felt relieved that we weren't in the crossfire of it.

"Are you sure the school's not trying to kill us?" I asked Dean.

He grinned at me, "It's not that bad. I had that last year, too. The only thing that happened was that we all got covered in pie. The smoke will be gone in a few seconds." And he was right. Just as he finished talking, the smoke vanished as if it had never been there.

Rosalie's pie, however, was all over the table.

"Maybe we should go sit somewhere else," I suggested.

"Nonsense. We might end up making an even bigger mess," Alice said as she took her seat once again.

"Now it's my turn," Emmett said, shoving his fork into the pie. It turned into green slime. Emmett lifted his fork and the slime stuck it it, looking disgusting. "Do you think it's edible?" he asked us.

Chris laughed, "Try it and find out." That seemed to be a highly unappetizing idea to Emmett, since he grimaced and dropped the fork back on the pie.

"Jasper, you'll go last since you were lucky last year," Alice said. Jasper grinned at her in return as Chris announced that it was her turn.

"You little tramp," a voice interrupted just as Chris had dramatically lifted her fork.

It was Tanya.

She was stomping toward us, glaring harshly at Alice.

"Oh, hello, Medusa. Do you want some pie?" Alice greeted her.

"No, I don't," Tanya snapped. "What were you thinking dressing me up like...like-"

"Like Medusa?" Rose threw in, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it sort of was.

Tanya turned her glare to Rose. "No, like a monster. This isn't cute or pretty or sexy at all. I don't recall telling you that I wanted to look ugly!" Tanya screeched.

"That's not hard to do," I heard Chris mutter beside me, too quietly for anyone else to hear. I disguised the smirk that wanted to come to my lips. It was mean, but it was funny.

"Calm down, Tanya. It's not that bad," Edward said as he approached us. Dylan and Kate trailed behind him. Kate didn't look happy and Dylan just looked bored.

"I thought you said something about wanting to look as stunning as you always do. I actually made you look better," Alice answered innocently.

Beside me, Chris got up and walked around the table, stopping behind Tanya.

"Why you little-" Tanya began, but was cut off by Chris tapping her on the shoulder. Tanya reluctantly turned around and looked straight into Chris' brightly smiling face. She really looked like Barbie in that moment.

"Tanya, I really think you should have some pie," Chris said. I hadn't even realized that she'd brought her plate along with her until she lifted it and quickly smushed the pie right into Tanya's face.

"NO!" Emmett, Jasper, and Dean exclaimed in unison while the rest of us sat frozen. Chris lowered the plate and looked at the three boys in confusion.

Meanwhile, the pie on Tanya's face transformed. It turned red while Tanya stood there screaming. She only stopped when some of the red stuff got into her mouth, and that was just so she could spit it out. The sticky red stuff on her face was now more like a liquid.

"Come on, T, let's get you cleaned up," Kate murmured quickly, pulling Tanya away.

"Was that blood?" I asked the remaining people in disbelief.

"Apparently," Jasper chuckled. "Nice one, Chris." The two of them bumped their fists together.

"But not human blood, right?" I asked in concern.

"Bella, what kind of school do you think this is? Of course it's not human blood. It's probably from a chicken or something," Alice answered, laughing at my horrified expression.

"Was that really necessary?" Edward asked Chris.

"Of course it was," she answered. "She was screaming at poor little Alice." Alice pouted innocently at the mention of her name. I thought that looking innocent in the outfit she was wearing would be impossible, but somehow she managed to pull it off anyway.

"That might not have happened if you would have made her a different costume. Alice, you know that she's not one of those people who dress up in the traditional Halloween style," Edward griped.

I didn't really get what his problem was. Didn't he know that Tanya had been a complete bitch to his little sister the whole time?

"I did make her a pretty dress, but she wasn't satisfied with it, and I'm tired of spending all of my time on Tanya just because she thinks it's okay to lash out at everyone," Alice exclaimed, huffing angrily.

"Plus, don't you have other things to worry about right now, Edward? I believe that there was something you had to do and soon," Chris interfered, smiling that impossibly sweet smile of hers again. Edward frowned at her and walked away, probably to go looking for Kate and Tanya.

What was going on with Edward and Chris two?

"Hey, you guys got the pumpkin pies! I want one, too," Dylan said.

"Then go get yourself one," Rosalie retorted. Dylan stuck his tongue out at her and left to get himself some pie.

"Well, now I want to know if I get lucky this year," Dean said. We all turned our attention to his pie as he jabbed his pie with a fork. It burst into flames and we all laughed at the disappointed look that came upon his face.

I was about to poke mine, but was stopped by Dylan interfering, "No, no, no. I'm feeling lucky right now. Let me go first." I heaved a sigh and motioned for him to go on. He grinned at me and shoved his fork into the pie. Something green grew out of it, and after a few seconds, it was quite obvious that it was going to be flowers. The blossoms opened and then there were three beautiful pink lilies.

"Aw, how nice," cooed Alice and Rosalie. The two of them were just too girlie for their own good.

"They are so pretty," Chris said. Everyone looked at her in disbelief. She stared back, "What?"

"You don't like pink and you don't like flowers. These are _pink flowers_," Rose stated, obviously referring to the day when she and Alice had gotten us those impossible pink gumboots.

"Lilies are my favorite flower," Chris admitted quietly before she raised her voice and said, "Bella, you're last."

"No, I'm not. Jasper still hasn't gone," I informed her.

"Whatever, Bella, just poke the pie." I did as she said and waited for something to happen.

Nothing. No flames, no smoke, no flowers, no goo, no blood. Nothing.

Everyone seemed to be backing away in fear of mine exploding or something, but I saw no smoke.

"She got lucky!" Alice screamed, and suddenly everyone was jumping up to get my pie. I repeat _my_ pie.

Before I knew what was happening, Emmett had the plate in his greedy hands and was about to move away.

"Hey! That's not fair, Emmett!" I complained and reached for him. I missed, but Rose, Jasper, and Dylan got ahold of him and they all began wrestling for my pie. Alice tried, too, but she was just too short and couldn't even touch it. It was a huge chaos. Chris and I sat there, unsure of what to do.

"Emmett, you egotistical idiot, you have to share," Rosalie hissed.

At the same time, Dylan said, "It's not your pie, Emmett. Give it to me so I can give it back to Bella."

"I'm the smallest, so I get it. It wouldn't do you any good, anyway," Alice tried. Did they even realize that they were fighting over a pie? _My_pie? And it wasn't even a big one.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. I really wished that they would just stop.

Suddenly it was quiet around me. I didn't even hear the music anymore. I opened my eyes, only to see that the others were still fighting, but something was majorly different.

As soon as I realized that, I knew what it was. They weren't moving. It was as if they were frozen.

I looked around and saw that everybody in my sight was frozen. I turned to look at Chris and frowned when I saw that she wasn't moving either. What happened?

"What happened?" Chris suddenly asked, looking around disoriented. "Why is everybody except us frozen?"

"You were, too, just a second ago," I told her.

"And you weren't?"

"No."

"Strange," she replied. I nodded. A grin appeared on Chris' face.

"What?" I asked warily.

"Get the pie," she told me, grinning madly.

I groaned, "Not you, too."

"What? It's yours. Besides, they might stop fighting...if they ever unfreeze."

"You should be worried about why they're frozen, not the pie."

Chris shrugged and climbed on the table to get the plate out of Emmett's hand. "Here you go," she smiled, handing me the plate. I shook my head at her.

Suddenly, I heard three familiar voices from outside. When everything was so silent in here, it really wasn't that hard to hear things outside of the room. One of the voices belonged to Tanya - I'd recognize that nasally quality anywhere - the other was Kate, and I was pretty certain that the third belonged to Irina. Just as the three of them entered the room, I panicked. How exactly were we supposed to explain this? All three of them looked up in confusion, obviously expecting to hear music and people shouting and talking, but in the same second, everything unfroze.

"You will never-" Emmett started, but stopped suddenly.

Had I just been imagining it, or was Irina looking at me? I shuddered. It definitely hadn't been my imagination. Had she noticed that I was still moving when everything else was frozen? She couldn't have. There were so many people in the room, she wouldn't have been able to see me.

"Hey, Bella, how did you do that?" Emmett whined.

"Huh?" I blinked. I didn't even know what he was talking about.

"The pie," Alice told me, raising an eyebrow and pointing at it.

"Oh, right," I said as I picked up my fork. "You know that I can use telekinesis." I started eating the pie.

For some reason, I felt that I shouldn't tell them what had just occurred.

Chris looked at me with a questioning expression, but I shook my head at her discreetly, letting her know not to talk about it either. She plastered a smile on her face and said something to the others, but I couldn't pay attention. I was momentarily stunned.

The pie was _amazing._ I'd never tasted anything like it. I couldn't even begin to describe how absolutely magnificent it tasted. It seemed to be a mixture of different tastes of things that I loved, combined in the most deliciously brilliant way.

"This pie is-" I started, but I couldn't continue as I had no proper words to describe it.

"Yeah, we know," Alice said, disappointed.

"You want some?" I offered.

"No, thanks," she said. "The spell only works on one person."

"Spell?" I shoved another scoop of pie in my mouth. I bit back a moan as it coated my taste buds, making them smile in delight.

"Yeah, it's some weird spell that makes it taste like the most wonderful thing to you. Apparently it's different for each person, so once someone starts eating it, no one else gets that taste. It would taste just like an other ordinary pumpkin pie to anyone else," Rosalie explained.

"So that's why you were all after the pie like a bunch of rabid dogs?" Chris asked.

"Currently, there are only ten people in this school who have had the privilege of tasting it. Well, eleven now."

"That's a new record," Damon piped.

"It's just a pie," I told him nonchalantly, emptying my pie. They all looked at me with glaringly dark expressions.

_Edward POV_

On my way to Alice's room, I tried my hardest not to imagine Bella in her costume. I hadn't even seen it, so I really didn't have anything to base my thoughts off. I also didn't understand why my mind kept on coming up with different scenarios in which Bella starred, wearing really small, not-at-all-Juliet-related dresses.

Probably because I knew better than anyone else how Alice's mind worked.

I had tried on several occasions to pick the image of Bella's costume out of Alice's head, but I hadn't been very successful. I didn't even know why I was so obsessed with Bella. I should be have fantasies of Tanya in skimpy costumes.

In a way, it was totally wrong for me to think of Bella in any way other than friendly. But ever since she kissed me the other night, I caught myself thinking about her a lot more often. I kept replaying the kiss in my head, remembering the feel of her soft lips, the taste of strawberries...

I shook my head to get my mind away from where it was headed. It was really pathetic, actually, but I couldn't help myself. I felt like a little school girl, analyzing every reaction toward me, every glance that she threw in my direction, even if she was looking over my head at something.

There was no visible sign - at least not to me - that she actually took any interest in me. Apparently she hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said that it was just a crush and that it would pass quickly. From what I could tell, she had gotten over it, and this bothered me much more than it should.

As I came closer to Alice's room, I noticed that Dylan was standing in the doorway. After taking a few more steps, I also saw Chris. She seemed to be aware of my approach and she looked at me with wide eyes.

But before I could even think any more about this strange reaction of hers, she had that half smile on her face again. The one that she always wore when she was joking.

"Well, I guess you're all set to go and punish humanity, Zeus," she said lightly to Dylan and started nudging him out of the door.

Dylan was making it a bit difficult on Chris as he grinned widely when speaking to her. The grin combined with his flirtatious voice meant only one thing. Well, actually more than one, but since this was Alice's room, and they were both standing in the doorway, I narrowed it down to one thing: Dylan had finally gained some common sense and kissed her. After weeks and weeks of denying his attraction to her, he'd finally done what I'd been telling him to do. We had a lot of conversations about that in which he always told me far too much about his latest conquest. But ever since the twins had arrived, I'd cut him off and told him that he should just ask Chris out or something, since I honestly believed that she would be good for him.

Now that I saw him pecking her on the lips and practically skipping down the hall in happiness, I could see that I'd been right. Chris turned her attention to me and something about her expression told me that she wasn't entirely happy with me. But I knew that already. I still remembered when she'd let Bella's emotions run through her mind while I was reading her thoughts. I didn't think I'd ever forget how much pain I'd felt at that moment. I internally shuddered at the memory. It really hadn't been pleasant whatsoever, which only proved to make me feel even worse since it had been my fault that Bella had felt that way.

My mind raced back to the current situation and I shot an accusatory glance at Chris. "What the hell! You kissed Dylan?" I demanded.

She shrugged and acted as if she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. "No, I didn't. _He_ kissed _me_. Did you not just see that?" she asked calmly.

If I didn't know my brother so well, I easily would have believed her.

"Don't even try to deny it, Chris. Dylan didn't even try to hide it," I told her, smirking because I knew that she would fall for my bluff.

She sent me an annoyed scowl while my grin widened. "Then why'd you even bother asking if you already knew?" I shrugged. "And why are you reading his mind, anyway? I thought you didn't always do that. Ugh, you're just like Jasper, invading everyones privacy."

She really didn't know that Jasper and I were giving them much more privacy than we used to. About two years ago, I didn't even know that I could extract my mind from others. I had just been thinking that I was cursed with the fact that I would always hear someones thoughts in my head, no matter where I was and what I did. I was so glad when Mr. Decour started teaching here, because it was thanks to him that I was able to learn how to control my ability better.

"Well, actually, I didn't read anyones mind. Dylan just had that goofy smile on his face when you pushed him out and I know what that means. You just verified what I wanted to know," I said to Chris, knowing exactly how she was going to react.

"You're such a-"

"Hey, it's not my fault you fell for it."

"Whatever," she retorted before asking Alice what else needed to be added to my costume. When I heard the word 'makeup' I felt like running out of there at top speed, but I knew that Alice would kill me. I then thought at protesting and was about to, but I changed my mind when I saw the evil smile Chris had plastered on her face.

We passed Tanya, who was sitting on the couch listening to music, look as unspectacular as she always did. When I asked Chris about it, she told me that Alice was still in the other room working on Bella. I wondered what she looked like, but instead of allowing my mind to wander down that endless path again, I spoke about something else.

"You know, even though it's kind of wrong since you're both in relationships, I'm kind of glad that Dylan finally seems to be admitting his feelings for you."

Chris dropped the makeup tube in her hand which caused me to grin. "What?" she asked, obviously shocked.

I guessed that the entire female population in this school would be shocked beyond belief if they heard a sentence that had both the words 'Dylan' and 'feelings' in it.

"Dylan has taken interest in you for quite a while now. Well, ever since you arrived, actually," I told her calmly. "He was just being too...narrow-minded to notice."

The look of utter disbelief on Chris' face kind of startled me. What did I say?

"Are you sure you're talking about Dylan and not yourself?"

Now she had me confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you are crushing on my insanely beautiful, sweet, innocent twin, but you're being too stubborn to actually admit it," she said, smiling fondly at the mention of her sister. Was it really that obvious?

"What? No, I am not 'crushing' on her," I denied the allegations. "I care about her, yes, but I only love her like a sister."

"Um, no. _I_ love her like a sister," she said, emphasizing the 'I'. "You, my dear friend, love her in the dirty fantasy-having way." I looked down when she said that in hopes of her not seeing the twinge of guilt on my face. What? I'm a guy. Apparently it was obvious though, because Chris squealed a little, which made me think that she had been spending way too much time with Alice. "Oh, no, you really do have dirty fantasies with Bella in them? Shame on you. She's too innocent to be playing a main character in your mental porn."

Mental porn? Did she really have to phrase it that way?

"What exactly are you waiting for? Just go for it," Chris said after she laughed at the expression on my face.

If it really were that easy, I think I would have done that by now. But nobody else seemed to understand that. Alice had been preaching something like that as well. I usually passed out during her long speeches, so I didn't exactly remember what she said.

"I can't," I sighed. "I've never dated a girl like Bella before. She really is like you just said, insanely beautiful, sweet, and innocent. I don't know if I'm the right choice for her. I've only ever dated girls like Tanya, you know, the ones who aren't looking for any kind of commitment. I don't have to be overly considerate, and therefore I can't mess up. But Bella's not the same. I just...I don't know," I desperately ran a hand over my face and then threw my untamable hair.

"You know, Edward, Bella's not going to wait forever for you to get your shit together. You better make your move soon or you'll be replaced faster than you can say Chihuahua."

"Why would I say Chihuahua?" Seriously, why did she even think of that word? A normal person would have thought of something more like 'boyfriend' or 'love' or whatever. At least something related to the topic at hand.

"You just said it, didn't you? And now imagine if Bella had thrown you out of her heart just before you finished saying it," Chris said in a way that reminded me of a scene from a movie.

If we ever had a How To Be A Mafia Boss class, Chris would very likely be the teacher. She was a genius when it came to torturing people. She and Alice should never be left alone together for more than two hours. I didn't even want to think of the countless possibilities of evil things the two of them could conjure up when their wicked minds were put together.

But still, she was right, and I really didn't like admitting that. The thought of Bella with someone else was physically painful. I hadn't been too thrilled about her going to the dance with Dean. As a matter of fact, I had been minisculely satisfying my anger by imagining different ways to kill him, just because he hoped for a kiss from Bella.

I should never have read his mind.

When Chris was finally done applying that junk girls called makeup all over my face - which made me feel like I was ten pounds heavier - I hurried out of the room to prevent Alice from having any more ideas.

On my way back to my room, I passed Emmett. He laughed for about five minutes over me having to wear makeup. That was, until I pointed out that he was wearing a prince costume with tights for pants.

That shut him up.

As I was about to enter my room, Dylan suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Seriously man, I don't want to know what Chris smelled, tasted, and felt like," I sighed before he could say anything.

He looked at me with a dumbfounded expression for a second before he composed himself. "Charming, little brother, real charming. But that's not why I'm here. Esme decided that she wants to take pictures of us in our costumes."

"What? Why? We're not even complete," I whined.

"That's not going to stop her. She said that we'd better do it now, otherwise she will hunt us down at the dance - which she'll probably do anyway since she wants a group picture of us with our dates," Dylan said, shrugging lightly.

I never really understood why my mother always had to have reminders of every little thing that we did. No matter what the occasion was, Esme wanted to take pictures of her 'little babies' and their friends.

I think it may be time that we had _the_ talk with her. The talk in which we tell her that we are not babies any more, and that we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. But I really didn't want to hurt her feelings, and I already knew that she would just tell us that we may not be babies anymore, but that doesn't mean that we aren't _her_ babies.

"Lets go," I heaved a reluctant sigh and Dylan grinned as he stepped toward me to pull me into a brotherly hug.

Moments later, we stood in our parents' brightly lit living room.

"There you are!" Esme gushed. She actually had on her own costume and seemed to be rather excited. She was dressed as a witch, pointy hat, broom, and all. Right, the teachers were going to be at the dance, too. I had a habit of forgetting that, since I hardly ever ran into them. Especially not my parents. I took extra precautions to avoid them. "Well, don't you two look dashing! I can't believe you've grown up so much. It seems like just yesterday I was changing your diapers. Oh, Edward, you always had this ugly rash on your-"

"Mom!" I interrupted her, not wanting to hear the stories. Only now was I alerted of Jasper and Emmett's presence in the room by their loud rambunctious laughter. I turned around and glared at them. Those two always reminded me of the audience in those stupid TV shows that start to laugh at the things that were supposed to be funny.

Most of the time, they weren't.

"Okay. Now, boys, just stand together and smile those handsome smiles I love," Esme instructed, whipping a camera from behind her back.

"Ah, Eddie boy, isn't that nice? This Halloween we all have beautiful girls to be on our arms...oh, wait, sorry, man, I forgot you were going with Tanya," Emmett said, putting his arm on my shoulder and laughing loudly. Jasper grinned and punched me lightly on the arm.

"Come on, kids, let's just get a nice picture so we can go to the dance and actually _see_ those beautiful girls...and Tanya," Dylan threw in, joining Jasper and Emmett's laughter. I simply rolled my eyes at them. It had been like this on several occasions before, with only a few exceptions when Dylan managed to be the one with the horrible date. Most of those times, Tanya hadn't been my date.

"How about we make this a little more fun?" Esme suggested. We looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about. I could have read her mind, but I was doing my best to give people their privacy now-a-days. "Just do as I say," she told us. We shrugged in unison and she sent us her warm, motherly smile. "Okay, Dylan, try to look as threatening as you can, and the rest of you, shrink back a little and look frightened."

"What? Frightened of Dylan? Why?" Emmett was quick to protest.

"Because I am Zeus. Now do as I command," Dylan said threateningly, which actually did cause Emmett to shrink back a little.

"Dylan!" Esme scolded immediately. He grinned innocently at her and Emmett returned to his former stance, looking a little bit confused before puffing out his chest to make it seem like he hadn't been intimidated. "I told you not to use that outside of class," Esme continued.

"Sorry, Mom," Dylan apologized, not sounding apologetic in the least. He punched Emmett lightly and in return, Emmett pretended to be angry at him.

For the next half an hour, we were forced into multiple poses for Esme, and somehow acting out each of her ideas. She wanted Harry Potter to hit me with a spell (Jasper looked really fierce when he pretended to curse me). We had the prince praying to Zeus and Zeus throwing his lightning bolt at Harry. After that, we decided to get creative. I ended up actually 'biting' the prince. Apparently I did well at that and actually looked sort of crazed like I was being controlled by my lust for blood or something. Emmett carried an unconscious Jasper in his arms and Dylan decided to hide behind my cape. After that, Esme was finally satisfied and allowed us to leave, but not before making us a promise that she would find us again later.

On our way to the dance, we caught up with Damon and Dean. It seemed like Dylan was getting along a little too well with Damon, considering he had just kissed his girlfriend.

Apparently he didn't feel guilty.

We waited in front of the festival building, talking about trivial things and of course the others continued teasing me because of my date.

Rose interrupted, though, and drew all of our attention to the girls.

I could practically feel my jaw hitting pavement. All of the girls were wearing short dresses, making several passing guys check them out until their dates hit them on their heads.

But I couldn't pry my eyes from Bella. I didn't _want_ to take my eyes away from her. She looked far too deliciously stunning for her own good. Not even in my wildest dreams did she look _this_ amazing. I was pretty sure that I was drooling at the sight of her legs. _Her very long, seemingly endless, legs...I bet they're smooth like silk..._I was a little grateful when Alice appeared, interrupting my drool session (I didn't want Bella to see me and think I was some sort of perverted jerk), but I was even more angry at her. She always managed to ruin good moments, but now she'd topped herself by presenting us with Tanya.

Basically, the costume wasn't bad. But considering everyone else looked ten times (make that infinity times in Bella's case) better, and Tanya looked rather ridiculous in it, the situation was quite humorous.

But no one dared to laugh. All of us knew, and wanted to avoid, the Tanya-storm that we'd be cursed with if we did laugh.

To make matters even worse, Chris had to choke out a, "You look...great, Tanya," which only made it that much harder for all of us to hold in our laughter.

I wasn't sure how Alice had managed to make this without letting Tanya see it.

For a moment, I was torn between laughing at Tanya and letting her know how she looked. But that moment passed when everyone burst out laughing, causing me to laugh as well. I did feel bad, though, after all, I was in something akin to a relationship with her and I couldn't just stand there and let all of my friends laugh at her. Well, I could, but that would just be wrong.

Kate approached Tanya, probably to let her know that everyone was laughing at her. All except for me and Dylan scurried inside, not wanting to be close when Tanya exploded like a bomb. Just as they all vanished inside, Kate reached in her purse and handed Tanya a small mirror.

The screech that followed made a few dogs outside of the campus howl.

"Tanya, calm down. It's really not that bad," I tried to soothe her.

"Do you see what your slutty little sister did to me?" she shrieked.

"Don't talk about my sister like that," I told her calmly, at the same time as Dylan, who said it a lot more harshly.

Tanya glared at me, "You're not supposed to defend her. You have to go inside and talk to that...that...rat!"

"Tanya! I'm only going to say this one more time. Don't talk about my sister like that. She worked really hard on all of our costumes, so you should at least be grateful and overlook this little mistake."

"Little mistake? Little MISTAKE? I'll tell you what a little mistake is. You're _sister_ is a little mistake. This-" she gestured to herself, "-is a catastrophe!" she made an angry sound that sounded similar to a cat gagging. "That tiny piece of trash just-" For some reason, Tanya suddenly shut her mouth.

"Tanya," Dylan said in a calm voice that was strangely menacing. "You do _not_ talk about my sister like that. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it at all."

"Dylan! What are you doing? You cannot manipulate her mind like that, it's against the rules!" Kate screeched at him. He glared at her for a second and she glared back. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh and Tanya took a deep breath as if she had been holding it the whole time. "You really shouldn't defend Alice that much," Kate said to me, obviously upset with the whole situation.

"Are you telling me that I should let Tanya insult my sister?" I asked her in disbelief.

Kate answered, "No," at the same time as Tanya hissed, "Yes." I'd never realized how much of a bitch Tanya was until now. I mean, I knew that she was a rather difficult person, but I never thought she was that...cruel.

"All I'm saying is that you might wanna talk to Alice about this. The dress she originally made for Tanya looked a whole lot different," Kate said, sounding much more reasonable than she had before.

"Knowing Tanya, she probably deserves this dress. And why are you making such a big deal out of this, anyway? It's just a freaking dress. No one's going to die," Dylan interfered.

"How would you know? Maybe I will die," Tanya snapped at him. I just shook my head.

"Yeah, if you continue to be as horrible as you are now, someone might think that you're the real Medusa and cut off your head," Dylan retorted, smirking.

"Dylan, what the hell? Don't talk to her like that, she's my best friend!"

"Did you stop her from insulting Alice? Maybe you should look for more pleasant friends." I sighed, sensing a fight brewing between Kate and Dylan.

"Come on, Tanya, we'll go talk to Alice," I released a large gust of air as we stepped away to go inside before we ended up being trapped in the middle of an argument that would only end with a breakup. I let my eyes wander across the crowded festival room, and scanned everyones thoughts in search of a familiar 'voice.' I found it rather quickly, for which I was glad because Mike Newton had been starting to have inappropriate thoughts about Jessica Stanley and I seriously didn't want to hear them.

The encounter with Alice didn't go over very well. Tanya just had to lash out on her and apparently, I wasn't the only person bothered by that. I could see that Jasper had to control himself, otherwise he may have launched himself at Tanya and punched her in the face. Emmett, on the other hand, was thinking of various ways to beat her up and excuses he could use on a teacher to avoid getting himself into trouble.

The problem was solved, though, by Chris. Her solution was probably the most harmless one, and seeing Tanya freak out like that was rather amusing, just not adequate in that moment.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked Chris, already knowing what her answer would be.

"Of course it was," she replied breezily. "She was screaming at poor little Alice." As if to prove it, Alice's bottom lip jutted out in an innocent pout at the mention of her name.

Well, she was right about that. But still, here would humanity end if we all solved our problems like that? I was starting to get very tired of trying to make peace between my friends/family and Tanya.

"That might not have happened if you would have made her a different costume. Alice, you know that she's not one of those people who dress up in the traditional Halloween style," I said.

"I did make her a pretty dress, but she wasn't satisfied with it, and I'm tired of spending all of my time on Tanya just because she thinks it's okay to lash out at everyone," Alice exclaimed, huffing angrily for emphasis.

"Plus, don't you have other things to worry about right now, Edward? I believe that there was something you had to do and soon," Chris interfered, smiling falsely at me.

Did she read minds now as well?

I didn't supply her with an answer. Instead, I simply walked off to find Tanya and Kate.

They had just entered the room when I found them. Apparently Kate had paid attention in Magical Arts class, so she knew that she had to get Tanya cleaned up rather quickly, and so Tanya's face was already void of any of the blood.

"Oh, Edward, that horrible mistake of a child was mean to me," Tanya cried, throwing herself at me. She sounded like a kindergartner, but I didn't tell her that.

"Tanya, I think we need to talk," I told her gently.

"Okay," she nodded and turned to Kate. "Do you mind giving us some privacy?" Kate eyed me for a second before she nodded and walked away. "So, what do you wanna talk about?" Tanya purred, probably thinking she sounded seductive. She ran her hands up and down my arms.

"Tanya, focus! We really do need to talk," I hissed at her.

"Gosh, Edward, you're such a prude. Hot, but still a prude," she commented.

"I can live with that."

"Oooh, lets go check out the haunted maze. We can talk there," Tanya said, suddenly turning her attention to the maze.

I wondered if it was even possible to have a conversation with her. It seemed that she had the very short attention span of a goldfish.

"I really don't think-"

"That's the problem with you, Edward, you don't think. I always thought you were smart, but I think you're just book smart. But don't worry, I still like you, even though you are a little stupid," Tanya cut me off, pulling me along to the back door that led straight into the maze.

I was momentarily stunned by what Tanya had just said. Did she really just call _me_ stupid?

Before I could even comment, Tanya had dragged me into the maze by her horribly manicured (I knew this thanks to Alice) talons - I mean, nails.

It looked just like any other maze. But the hedges were so high, I wasn't sure where they ended, so maybe it wasn't quite like any other maze.

It was dark and quiet, and I really wasn't sure why Tanya thought tht we could have a conversation in here. Everybody knew that this maze always separated groups. It was part of the 'rules.' People usually made bets on who would make it to the exit first, and some people got 'lost.' The maze was designed by the teachers, and some of the senior and college students. It wasn't only there for fun, it was also somewhat of a test.

You always get separated from the original people you went in with, but it happened so that you met someone else on your way out. This was the way to test our teamwork abilities. Also, we did have to use magic every now and then, because we would get 'attacked' while in the maze. Those who couldn't defend themselves usually landed somewhere deeper in the maze, which was no fun at all. Every year, a few people would only make it out a day later when the maze was removed.

"Edward, I'm scared," Tanya whined, holding my arm tightly.

"Then why did you even want to go in here?" I asked her in an annoyed tone. I really wanted to be anywhere but here, with her, at that moment.

"Don't you enjoy my presence?" she asked innocently, looking at me with wide eyes.

I looked down at her and took a deep breath. It was now or never, I thought, pulling my arm away from her. "To be honest, no," I answered. I could see that this had offended her, and offending Tanya was never a good thing.

She was about to have one of her bitch fits again when suddenly a hand crept out of the hedge and grabbed her. She screamed like those girls in horror movies when they're being murdered. I watched as she vanished into the hedge and was not to be heard again. I couldn't help but release a chuckle at that.

But now I was stuck in this maze on my own.

_Well, now, isn't that just great?_

After a few more steps, I came to an intersection, and until now, I hadn't even realized that the beginning path was dimly lit. The two paths that lay in front of me were a lot darker.

I pulled out my wand and mumbled the word, "Luxio," to brighten the trip, before choosing the right path and starting to walk.

As I was making my way through the maze, I was attempting to watch everything around me so that I couldn't be caught off guard.

Occasionally, I heard screams from somewhere far away and briefly wondered if it was Tanya, but then I discarded the thought quickly. I didn't really care.

After I had been walking around for about 45 minutes, I started to get tired. Nothing had happened to me yet. The trail I had been walking on ended and I stepped into a round place from which five other paths led.

A sound came to me and I turned abruptly, but didn't see anything. I carefully stepped backwards to the middle of the circular area and looked in every direction. Unfortunately, I forgot to check everything behind me and my heart nearly stopped when I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

I let out a scream and spun around quickly.

Bella stood there, snickering at my little girlish outburst.

"God, Bella, you almost killed me! Don't just stand there laughing. This is hardly funny," I scolded her, while I placed a hand over my racing heard. I studied Bella as she stood there, continuing to laugh with that beautiful, angelic, musical voice of hers. "Why are you doing here, anyway?" I asked curiously. She looked a little lost the way she was standing there with her legs crossed, although she had been laughing at me.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Tanya dragged me in here," I answered gravely. I couldn't be too sure in the darkness, but I thought I saw Bella's face fall.

"Oh. Well, Alice dragged all of us in here since she has the whole evening planned." I nodded, not really knowing what to say.

_Just talk to her already!_ a voice in my head shouted. The fact that I wasn't currently using my mind reading ability should have made me worried that I was hearing voices, but even worse was that the voice in my head sounded like Chris. When did Chris become my conscious, and why did I think that was kind of hypocritical?

"So, since we already bumped into each other, how about we finish this journey together?" I offered, trying to keep the hope I felt out of my voice. I think it worked.

"Um, okay, sure, but I won't protect you," Bella answered.

"What makes you think that I need protecting?"

"You screamed like a little girl when I touched your shoulder, Edward. You'll be lucky if I don't tell Emmett about this." I huffed at that. That would be just what I needed, Emmett teasing me because Bella startled me. "But maybe I won't tell him...that is, if you tell me how to make that light thingy on your wand."

I looked down at my wand. "Oh, that's easy. The spell is just the word 'luxio'."

Bella pulled out her wand from the tiny purse on her arm and did as I instructed. A second later, her wand had a small, but bright, light on the tip of it. "So, which path do we take?" she asked lightly.

"Um, you decide." Bella looked at me, shrugged, and then led the way down one of the paths.

The space between hedges wasn't very large, so my arm constantly came in contact with Bella's. Each and every time, I felt that warm electrical jolt go through me. Only this time, it was more like a constant hum hanging between us. We walked in silence, and over the minutes, the feeling only increased.

At some point, I decided to just suck it up and spit it out. "Do you feel it, too?" I asked quietly. I actually felt sort of embarrassed to ask her this for some reason. I didn't know why, but being around her made me feel shy, something I hadn't been since elementary school.

"Feel what?" she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Maybe I had, but I knew that the feeling wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me. Maybe she just didn't feel it like I did. Somehow, this thought bothered me.

"That strange...electrical feeling," I tried to explain.

"You mean right now?" she asked back, not looking at me.

"Yes."

"No, I don't," she answered simply.

"Huh?" was the only reply I could think of. She didn't feel it?

After that, only silence was between us. Well, I still felt the electricity humming, but I tried to ignore the urge I felt to wrap my arms around her. A couple of times, I actually found my arms and hands with minds of their own, attempting to hold Bella's hand, or wrap around her thin waist. I had to stuff my hands in the pockets of my black pants to keep myself from making an even bigger fool of myself. It was actually rather awkward to walk in the darkness, so close to her, and not say a word.

_Just freaking talk to her!_ the Chris-alike voice in my head hissed at me.

"So...how is Dean?" I asked. The moment I did, I regretted it.

"What?" Bella asked in confusion and disbelief.

"Nevermind," I mumbled quickly.

"Why do you want to know how Dean is?"

"Oh, um...just because, you know...um, just checking to make sure that everything between the two of you is good," I stuttered like the idiot that I am, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. "If not, it would be a shame...really." It was so much easier to talk to Bella before Chris had that talk with me.

"Okay," Bella said, dragging out the word and giving me a weird look. "I guess everything is fine. Just the normal Halloween dance date thing."

"Cool," I said, not thinking that it was cool at all. "So, it's just like any other date where the guy drops you off later on and hopes for a kiss, right?" Again, I was making a fool of myself.

"Um, yeah, I guess." Bella sounded like she wanted to be anywhere but here right now. I knew how she felt, but I couldn't stop myself. The words just kept pouring out of my mouth and making me seem like even more of an idiot.

"I bet he's a good kisser," I blurted out, and immediately smacked myself on the head after that. _'I bet he's a good kisser.' Nice going, Edward, nice going._

Bella came to a halt and looked at me with a strange expression. "Why are we talking about this?" she asked carefully.

I shrugged, "I guess I'm just curious."

Bella frowned at me. "Well, maybe I can set you up on a date with Dean sometime. Then you might find out if he is a good kisser."

I gaped at her, "W-what? NO!" I stuttered. "It's not like that...I just-" And that was where I no longer had words to say what I was thinking.

"You just what?" Bella asked, her voice suddenly cool.

"I just thought that if he was a good kisser, I would've wanted to know if I was better," I answered. I really didn't even know what I was saying now. My mouth had gotten a mind of it's own.

"Why would you care about that? I don't think it would help your reputation much. All of the girls are already all over you, so there's no reason." She started walking again.

"Yeah, but I don't really care about all those girls," I replied. Finally, my mind had taken over again and put an end to my serious word vomit issues.

Bella stopped again and sighed exasperatedly. "Then who do you care about?" she asked, sounding a bit fed up.

Before I could answer, I heard a sound as something close to us moved. I immediately started looking around to see if there was anything there. Suddenly, the light on my wand turned off. I turned to Bella and saw that she didn't have her light anymore, either.

"Bella?" I called into the darkness.

"Right here," I heard her voice close to me. I then saw her standing in front of me, but I couldn't really see her face. "What's happening?" she asked. I could detect the slightest hint of fear in her beautiful voice and I didn't like it at all.

"It's one of the weird things that happen in here. Just stay calm and come here," I told her, pulling her to me softly to prevent her from being dragged away like Tanya.

That's when I heard the strange sound again. It sounded like an animal sniffing.

"What is that?" Bella whispered.

"I don't know," I answered as I held up my wand. "Luxio," I muttered. Nothing happened and I sighed. This happened every once in while; the easy spells wouldn't work in situations like this because the teachers wanted to challenge us. "Lux mico," I tried. A bright flash of light came out of the tip of my wand and illuminated the path.

For about 5 seconds.

But that was still enough time for me to see the giant werewolf that was approaching us flinch back at the sudden light.

"Oh my-" Bella started.

"Don't freak out," I said, cutting her off. "The worst thing that will happen to us is that we'll get lost. That isn't a real wolf."

"Okay...but still, what are we supposed to do?"

"Right now? I don't...ah," I sat down on the ground and pulled Bella with me. She let out a little squeak of surprise, which in turn made the wolf grunt. It was coming closer.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at me.

"Werewolves detect movement, so we're just going to have to stay still," I whispered softly to her and laid down on the ground, wrapping my arms tightly around Bella and keeping her close to me.

I thought that just being alone with Bella in the maze was going to be the highlight of my day. But I was wrong. The highlight of my day would definitely be the feel of her warm little body against mine. Despite the circumstances. I felt like she fit perfectly into my arms, like she was made for them.

_Like she was made for me..._

"And we couldn't have stayed standing?" Bella asked, not sounding as annoyed as before. She sounded more like she was surrendering.

"No. There wouldn't be enough space for the wolf to pass then," I chuckled lightly.

"Mhm," Bella hummed and buried her head in the crook of my neck.

_It was a perfect fit, too..._

The feel of her breath sent shivers down my body, but I had to suppress them since we had to stay still.

Apparently that didn't work as well as I had thought because Bella mumbled, "Stay still, Edward."

"I can't," I replied.

"Why not?" The werewolf was close enough now that I could hear it's heavy footsteps padding around.

"Because your breath makes me shiver?" I said, but it came out as a question. Apparently I hadn't gotten over my word vomit issues like I thought I had. Bella released a small giggle and I felt as she held her breath.

In that exact moment, the giant dog was standing above us, searching for any sign of movement.

I held as still as I possibly could and so did Bella. Although I did feel her fingers dig into my arms.

I felt as her heart started racing against my chest and I knew that she wouldn't be able to hold her breath for much longer. Only if she released it now, she would be moving a lot.

Just as I was starting to form a plan B in my head, the wolf decided that nothing was here and continued it's walk.

Bella rose her head and released her breath as slowly and quietly as she could.

But that giant monster wasn't gone quite yet. It had only moved a couple of meters. I heard it grunt and I felt as Bella immediately froze. She stayed like that for a few more moments.

"I think we can move now," I whispered.

"No," she whispered back. "We can't. It still has to round the corner." How did she know that? It was so dark and I could hardly even see her. "Now we can move," she said at a more normal volume, and started to move away from her. I grabbed hold of her.

"How did you know where it was?" I asked her in confusion.

I felt her give a nonchalant shrug, "I saw it."

"It's pitch dark. I can't even really see your face." I felt her move and then her face was suddenly closer to me. There was still a decent distance between us, but I could still feel her warm breath fanning across my face.

"I did learn how to handle my gift better in class, you know," she said lightly, then attempted to get up again.

But I didn't let her. It's now or never.

"You know," I said softly, "to answer your earlier question...I care about you." And with that said, I pulled her down to me and crashed my lips to hers. At first, she didn't respond and I could practically feel the confusion radiating from her. But when I traced her bottom lip with my tongue, she seemed to awake from her frozen state and started kissing me back.

I don't know how long we were laying there, kissing. It could have been minutes, hours, or even months. It didn't matter to me at all. All I cared about was Bella in that moment, and all that mattered was that incredible, deliciously sweet taste of hers.

But then Bella pulled back. "Do you kiss Alice like that, too?" she asked breathlessly. If she hadn't broken the kiss, I wouldn't have bothered to breathe ever again.

"What? No! That's disgusting. Why would you even ask that?" I immediately asked, a little confused.

"You love me like a sister, remember?" she said lightly, tracing the contours of my lips with her index finger. Her touch left a burning trail, but I tried not to concentrate too much on that in the moment.

"I'm so sorry about that, Bella, I really am. I realize that I've been a complete idiot and I should have noticed much earlier that the feelings I have toward you are in no way brotherly," I told her sincerely.

"You know, it's kind of mean that you just realized this now. I was finally starting to get my mind off of you and now you just come and mess up all my effort. Do you know how hard it is going to be for me tomorrow when you decide that you made a mistake or that you're better off with Tanya? I-"

"Shh," I hushed her, placing a finger to her swollen lips. "I won't change my mind tomorrow. How could I? You're the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, nice, sincere, caring person in this entire school. I'm lucky that you even talk to me."

"Are you sure that you're talking about me and not Chris?" Bella asked, sounding doubtful.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Chris is the most annoying, dangerous, mean person in the school, so there's no way that I would be mistaking you for her. Oh, and did I mention sadistic?"

"Shut up, Edward. I will tell her that and then she'll hunt you down with Alice," Bella laughed that intoxicating laugh.

"Alice? Why? What did I do?" I asked in bewilderment.

"You ruined her perfectly planned evening. After we make it out of here, she wants all of us to dance with our dates and then we get our assigned alone time. Do you think that's going to be possible for me to do with Dean after I laid in the dirt with you?"

I opened my mouth to reply to that when yet another sound interrupted me. It sounded like someone running and calling.

Bella stood up immediately and I slowly followed her up off the ground.

"Luxio," I mumbled, wielding my want a little. The small light illuminated the path on which we stood.

I could see someone running toward us.

"Isabella! Isabella! Thank God I found you," a familiar voice called. As the person came closer, I recognized him as Alistair, the wandmaker from whom Bella, Chris, and I had received our wands.

"Alistair?" Bella sounded surprised. I was surprised, too. Not that it was weird or unexpected that other people from all over the campus were attending the dance as well, and therefore got lost in the maze, but because Alistair had never been one of those people. Besides, he didn't look like he had been at the dance since he was wearing his usual jeans and pullover attire, and seemed to be extremely worked up. "Why were you looking for me?" Bella asked him when he reached us.

"I don't have much time. She could be here any minute," he said hastily, ignoring Bella's question.

"Who is 'she'?" I asked him. He ignored that as well and simply beckoned us to follow him.

"She is probably already looking for me," Alistair muttered.

"Alistair! What is wrong?" Bella asked fiercely.

He looked at her and I thought I saw a hint of concern etched onto his face, but I couldn't be too sure in the dim lighting. "We need to find your sister," he said hastily, standing in front of two paths, unsure of which to take.

"That could take ages," I commented.

"No, no. We must find her fast," Alistair protested.

"Well, any kind of spell for that won't work in here so they can prevent us from cheating."

"I could find her," Bella said suddenly. Both of us looked at her. She didn't seem to notice, though, because she had her eyes closed.

"Bella, what are y-"

"Shh." She kept her eyes closed and started to turn around. Without opening her eyes, she walked back to the path we had just come from. She was moving rather quickly, and Alistair and I were having difficulties keeping up with her.

"Bella, what are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm using the bond to locate Chris. I've found her like this before, only that time I didn't know that was what happened," answered Bella curtly as she increased her speed. She rounded a corner and I could already hear Chris. She was hissing something at...Dylan. But I also heard something else.

It was our friend, the werewolf. Instantly, the light on my wand flicked off. I stopped walking and heard as Alistair came to a halt at my side.

"Bella, stop walking. The werewolf is here again," I hissed in the direction where I thought she was. Nothing. I reached out and tried to find her that way, but there was nothing there.

But then I heard a surprised, "Bella!" coming from Chris, so I figured Bella had somehow passed the wolf. "What are you doing here?" Chris asked her.

"Alistair was looking for you," answered Bella.

"Hello? Can we concentrate on this giant furry monster here?" Dylan randomly piped.

"Lay on the ground and don't move," Bella told him absentmindedly.

"Too late for that," Dylan said. "It already licked me."

"Oh," Chris and Bella breathed in unison.

"You should get rid of the time. It will only drag you further into the maze," Alistair called to them.

I heard Chris sigh and then I saw a flash of light. Suddenly, the whole place was illuminated by a burning wolf. As soon as it released a howl of pain, the illusion vanished. Chris stood there with a flame dancing on her palm and a rather annoyed expression on her face.

"I see that you've been working on your powers," Alistair commented as he approached the two girls.

"Um, yeah. Now what do you want?" Chris asked harshly.

"Chris," Bella warned.

"What? I'm just getting to the point. If he's going through the trouble of searching here for us, then he must have something important to say."

"Yes, thank you," Alistair said. "I've come here to warn you. And I am sorry, it is my fault that it has come to this. Normally you would have gotten more time."

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked, being her usual charming self.

"Alistair! You can't hide forever, you know," a high-pitched female voice called. It sounded vaguely familiar, but there was no way I could place it. Judging by the volume, she must be close. Alistair's eyes widened.

"We need to get going or she will kill all of us," he uttered quickly. "No light," he added, speaking mostly to Chris. She made her flame disappear, leaving all of us in the darkness.

"Kill?" Bella choked out disbelievingly.

"Yes. We must get out of here. Now," he said.

"Dylan, can't you beam us out?" Chris asked.

"No, the maze has a spell against that," he answered, groaning.

"Well, then, we need to do this the old-fashioned way," Bella sighed and lit her wand. We all hurried in the opposite direction from where we heard the woman's voice coming from.

"What is this all about?" I asked Alistair.

"I messed up and now they know. They aren't going to rest until I'm dead, but I still need to inform the twins. This is not how we planned it..."

"That is not very helpful information, you know," Chris remarked.

"Who would want to kill you?" Bella's voice was worried and scared at the same time.

"That is none of your concern right now. All you need to know is that you must be careful."

"Great! I already knew that. That's what my mom's been telling me since I was five," Chris retorted sarcastically. "We are currently running away from some psychopath who wants to kill you, and all you can tell us is to be careful?"

"Chris!" Bella, Dylan, and I hissed.

"It is not my job to let you in on everything. It would be far too much. But we are watching you, just like they are. You must know that you are being watched and you need to be careful with who you trust," Alistair answered calmly.

"I think I see the exit," Bella said in relief.

"And this is where it all ends," the female voice we heard earlier spoke as a silhouette started rising from the ground right in front of us. All of us came to a screeching halt. "You can't escape me. Master's going to be so pleased when he hears that I got the twins for him, too," the voice spoke. I couldn't make out anything, only that the person's arms seemed to have ranks growing out of them.

"Nobody's getting anything," Chris hissed and raised her hand. Fire started to form a ball around her hand, and when it was slightly larger than a football, it shot tward the person in the shadows. All we heard was a shriek, and then the person was gone.

"What just happened?" Bella asked in concern.

"Less talking, more running," Chris advised, moving toward the exit. The rest of us hurried behind her. A few seconds later, we were out of the maze and in the middle of the groups of celebrating teens who had also made it out.

"How did you do that?" Dylan asked Chris in disbelief.

"Do what? Shoot the psychopath?" she asked. He nodded. "I pointed and shot. Simple as that."

"No, not 'simple as that.' Our abilities aren't supposed to work in there," I explained.

"That is not a matter of discussion right now," Alistair interrupted.

"Bella? I didn't see her yet. Oh, wait, there she is!" I heard a voice shout over the noise. Alice and Rose were standing in front of a giant pumpkin in which a psychic sat. They had been talking to Irina and waved when they saw us. Irina looked in the direction Alice had pointed and made her way through the crowd.

"Ugh, why does she always bother you? I think that she thinks you're actually friends," Chris said.

Alistair glanced around nervously and mumbled, "We should get out of this crowd."

"Group hug," Dylan grinned and pulled all of us close. A second later, we stood a few meters away from the crowded place.

"That's not very far," Chris complained.

"I'm sorry, there's just too many of us," he defended himself before he plopped himself onto the ground. I could see that even this little distance had exhausted him. Alistair fumbled inside the bag I hadn't noticed he was carrying. He pulled out two wooden boxes that looked oddly familiar.

"Aren't those the boxes that our wands were in?" Bella asked. Alistair nodded and handed them to her and Chris.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" Chris questioned.

"You may also want to search through the long lost records. I'm sorry, but that is all I can tell you right now. If you knew too much, they might take you with them," Alistair said, completely dodging the question. Both of the girls somehow managed to stuff the boxes into their little purses. "When you find the reason, you should talk to Mr. Decour. I'm sure that he will be a great help. But you mustn't let anyone else know, and you _must_ be sure that you can trust all of your friends," Alistair looked at the two of them intently, while I started getting confused. What was he talking about?

"Hey, guys, what are you doing?" Irina barged in, looking perfectly content. All of us turned our attention to her.

"None of your business," Chris told her with a smile so brilliant it completed her Barbie attire perfectly.

Irina continued to smile and sway slightly to the music in the background while she kept her hands hidden behind her bag. Her smile was a little off and I wondered why that was.

I opened my mind and was immediately bombarded by hundreds of mental voices filling my head. I put my concentration into digging for Irina's. I didn't find anything useful there. She was simply wondering about this constellation of people.

And somehow I detected a hint of pain in her thoughts. She was trying her hardest not to think about it, but I knew that her left shoulder was hurt in some way. It was odd because I saw nothing. But then again, she wore a completely black suit that clung tightly to her skin and I wondered what she was trying to represent.

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Chris asked Irina when she didn't leave.

"Me? Oh, I am...one of Charlie's Angels. I actually wanted to do this with Kate and Tanya, but you know..." Irina trailed off. In her mind, she remembered how she had tried to convince Tanya and Kate to wear the same thing. Only, I heard nothing about Charlie's Angels. "Oh, well, Kate is still a little bummed because you dumped her, Dylan. I bet she would just _love_to hear that you're with Chris now," Irina said sweetly. Dylan grimaced at her and she smiled once more before turning around and leaving. We all turned back to Alistair, but he was no where to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Bella wondered aloud.

"Why did she assume that Dylan dumped Kate because of me?" Chris asked, sounding rather annoyed.

"Because it's true," Dylan answered, smiling at her before laying his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, please," Chris rolled her eyes and shrugged off his hand.

"Shouldn't we be concerned about Alistair?" Bella asked.

"Maybe it was all just a Halloween prank," Chris suggested.

"Why would he give us the boxes, then?" countered Bella.

"He didn't give them to us when we got the wands, and we didn't go to get them, so maybe he was using this as an opportunity to give them to us. I don't know."

"Do you think it was just a Halloween prank?" Bella asked me.

I shrugged, "It could have been. The weird woman was only in the maze and might have been there just to make it more difficult for us to exit." Bella didn't look convinced.

"Maybe Alistair went home. We can go there and check on him if it's that important to you," Chris told Bella warmly, pulling her into a hug. It never ceased to amaze me how considerate Chris was when it came to her sister. To us mundane people, she was just plain mean.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing over here? All the fun's back there," Alice had come over to us with Rose, Jasper, and Emmett trailing behind her.

"We're gonna go check on Alistair. You guys wanna come?" Dylan as if it was something we did every day.

"Um, why?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes at each of us.

"Because I'm a nice person and just thought I should ask you," replied Dylan.

"Shut up, you doofus," Chris said as she hit him lightly.

"Chris, you can't be violent and mean when you're dressed as Barbie," Alice complained.

"As I just demonstrated, I can. Now, are you guys coming along or not? If you do, we'll tell you the whole story."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a prank?" Alice asked when we'd finished telling them the entire story of what had happened. We were almost at Alistair's store which had his small, but cozy, apartment on the upper floor.

"No, I'm not. I just have this feeling that something is wrong," Bella answered, gripping my arm tighter. I was probably grinning like a madman, but I honestly didn't care. Alice and Rose, on the other hand, had been keeping their eyes on us the whole time. Suddenly, Bella froze.

"What's wrong, Bella?" I asked her in concern. She had been looking down the entire walk, and now she was pointing at the ground a few meters in front of us. We had been walking over one of the lawns, but Bella was staring at the end where the grass turned into pavement.

In the exact spot where Bella pointed was where it started. It dragged across the street and vanished around the corner where Alistair's apartment was.

A trail of blood.

"Oh my God," Alice squeaked, wrapping her arms around Jasper and burying her face in his chest. Rose did the same with Emmett, but didn't hide her face, while Chris stood there and narrowed her eyes.

"Bella, breathe through your mouth," she instructed calmly. I looked down at Bella who looked like she would pass out at any second. She did as Chris told her and slowly some of the color returned to her face.

"It looks like someone dragged something...bloody," Dylan commented.

"Not something," Chris hissed, "someone." I thought I saw her ear - the one that wasn't covered by her blond Barbie wig - twitch.

"I think we should call someone," Alice mumbled quietly. Chris had been taking a step forward and now turned. There was something different about her eyes, but before I could get a closer look and see what it was, they were back to normal.

"You go get Laurent," Chris said to Alice.

"Laurent? Shouldn't I be getting Carlisle or something?"

"Just do it, Alice. You can still call Carlisle if you want."

"Okay, come on, Jasper." Alice and Jasper hurriedly left.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Rosalie.

"I don't know. I'm going hunting," Chris grinned an evil grin as she lit a flame on her palm like she had earlier. Something about her was different, but I wasn't sure what.

"Chris, you really shouldn't do that," Bella warned her, but her sister ignored her.

I made use of my mind reading and was surprised to find that Chris' mind was 'open.' Her thoughts were relatively normal, but I thought I found the source of her recklessness. It happened quite often, but usually, the situations weren't that dangerous.

"Chris, you have excessive magic inside of you. You shouldn't do anything stupid right now, otherwise you might end up unable to control it," I told her.

"I-" she started but was interrupted by an entirely green person coming from the direction of Alistair's apartment. It was a woman, that was obvious, and she looked like she was made up of plants and plants only. I had a guy with a gift similar to that in my class. The woman had a few flowers on her body here and there, and when she spotted us, she came to a sudden halt.

"That's the one from the maze!" shouted Bella and Chris in unison just before they launched themselves to run after the woman who was now fleeing.

"Chris, this could be dangerous!" I heard Dylan shout after her before he disappeared from beside me. I hurried to catch up with them, which didn't take too long. A second later, I stood beside Dylan, who was standing beside the two girls. In the two seconds it took me and Dylan to catch up, the woman had already vanished and Chris had thrown another fireball at a dark corner beside the entrance of Alistair's store.

"She just vanished into the shad-" Chris started to explain, but her gaze swept to the entrance of the store. The door was wide open and Alistair was laying a few meters from it. His eyes were blank and there was blood dripping out of his mouth.

He was dead.

* * *

**_A/N: _ Phew. That was a lot of work... So this is the part where I thank my wonderful, beautiful, funny and completly insane beta for making this story perfect ( I wish I had ehr already in teh first chapters) and of course I would never forget to ask for reviews. Could you please be so kind and review this chapter? (I've never been so nice in my whole life) Okay... anything else I wanted to say...hmmm. Oh yeah, if you want to see the costumes just go on my profile I put the links there other than that I got nothing more to say :D**


	13. It Slowly Begins

**_A/N: _Yay! Fanfiction finally works aagain and...oh I updated. Yes, yes I'm great and I know you love me especially because the chapter is 14, 695 words long. I don't know why but I'm writing pretty long chapters these days and that even though I'm stressed out beyond compare-.-**

**Right now my printer is going wild, because I decided to print FASGS. I kow it's weird, but because I'm all over the place these days and I wanna correct the first few chapters, I just thought that might be a good idea. It's actually only 94 pages, but if it were a book, I bet it would be about 200 pages :P and actually it's pretty amazing to hold this in my hand I'm very impressed. **

**Okay enough from me, I bet you wanna read and I can't blame you becuase it's getting really exciting:D**

* * *

**Third POV**

"That bloody bastard. I swear I'm going to fu-"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Master scolded lightly. "Watch your language, my dear."

Blossom was sitting on a wooden chair, hissing and cursing loudly as Nightmare attempted to clean her flesh wounds. Blossom had ripped her top off the moment she and Shadow entered the room, only to reveal a harsh burn mark on her left arm and a matching one on her right side, a little bit above her waist. Nightmare had a sadistic smile on her face as she cleaned off the blood and added ointment to Blossom's wounds. She obviously enjoyed the extra pain she caused Blossom.

"That shit hurts like a motherf-" Blossom started, but stopped when Nightmare jabbed her finger into the wound on her side. She gave a light yelp of pain while Nightmare giggled. "You little-" Blossom stopped once again, hissing at Nightmare.

"It is your own fault that you are injured. You should have been more thorough," Nightmare told her, no doubt thinking that she would have done the job so much better.

"I could say the same to you," Blossom spat back. "Isn't it your fault that I had to take care of this problem in the first place?" Nightmare's facial expression changed into a darker one and she hit Blossom on her bleeding arm, causing her to screech in pain.

"Keep it down, will ya?" the careless voice of Houdini said lazily.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was me who was hit by that crazy bitch, not you," snapped Blossom, glaring at Houdini.

"She has shown quite impressive skills today. The progress the twins are making is quite extraordinary, as well, however, I am afraid that Christabel's attitude may cause us problems," Master mused.

"Oh, please, just because Bella isn't as crazy as her sister, doesn't mean her attitude won't be a problem," Blossom commented.

"If it ever comes down to it, I believe it would be easier to take Christabel down," Shadow breathed.

"It will not come to that!" Master yelled, causing his minions to flinch. "Not yet, anyway. If I find out that any of you have caused harm to the twins in any way before their task is fulfilled, I will be _very_ angry." The threat was easy to hear in Master's voice, and no one dared to argue with him. "Well, Blossom, I am very proud of you. You have completed your task."

Despite her pain, Blossom smiled proudly.

"But you could have done a better job," Master continued, causing Blossom's bright smile to immediately disappear. "There is a simple reason as to why I sent you. You could have made his death seem like a natural cause - perhaps a disease - but you messed it up when you let him to get away. Now we will have a lot more to deal with."

"I'm sorry, Master," Blossom apologized quietly. Master sighed before turning his attention to Shadow.

"Did you double check on Isabella?"

"Yes. All of the information we've collected seems to be spot-on with her," he answered.

"No, it's not," Blossom argued. "The target should be Edward Cullen. As a matter of fact, we should be targeting the whole Cullen family, as well as the Hales and the McCarty kid."

Master looked at her with a small icy smile etched on his face.

"Alistair must have warned them. What do we do now?" Houdini asked.

"You do exactly as I told you. Isabella and Christabel don't know the specifics. Alistair wasn't in the position to be supplied with that kind of information. You will have to keep a closer eye on them, though. I'm fairly sure that there are more Guardians in the school and Alistair may have told them who it is."

And with that, Master breezed out of the room.

**Bella POV**

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the dead body of Alistair. Millions of question, all sounding the same, ran through my head.

How was this possible when we had just been with Alistair not long ago?

What did any of this have to do with us?

Why are we being watched?

Why us?

"Get them away from here," I heard a familiar voice instruct. I vaguely noticed that there were people rushing all around us, but I couldn't get myself to focus on that.

"Come on, Bella, lets get you to the hospital," a gentle voice said. All I could was nod back numbly.

A warm hand grasped mind and softly tugged me along. I noticed that it was Edward.

"Where are Chris and Dylan?" I asked. My voice sounded far away and monotonous even to me.

"Over there with Emmett and Rose," he answered and pointed to where the four of them stood. We walked over to them and when we approached, Edward calmly told them, "Carlisle wants us to check in at the hospital."

"Why? Nothing happened to us," Chris was quick to protest. Through the bond, I felt that she was just as confused and terrified as I was.

"He doesn't want anyone to go into shock, so we should just go. He's only looking out for us," Edward replied. "He wants us to want for him there."

"When did he say that?" I asked him. I was even more confused now, since I had no recollection of hearing Carlisle's voice at all.

"He didn't," was the simple answer I received.

"Well, then, lets go. We might as well get some tranquilizers or something while we're already there," Chris said as she started leading all of us toward the school's hospital.

"Oh, thank God nothing happened to you. I was so worried!" Alice came bolting toward us, leaving Jasper to stand alone a few meters away from us. She threw herself into my arms, catching me off guard and causing me to stumble. Edward was quick to steady the two of us and Alice released me, only to get a death grip on each of the others. When she was finally done hugging the life out of everyone, we proceeded to walk. Jasper joined us when we reached him.

"Did anything happen to you?" he asked, looking at Chris, Edward, Dylan, and I. I didn't really have an answer to that, so I just frowned a little at the question.

"You'll hear soon enough. Carlisle will, no doubt, be asking more than enough questions in a few minutes," Edward replied.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So she was green?" Mr. Decour asked skeptically, giving us a look of slight disbelief.

We were all currently seated in Carlisle's office. It was inside the hospital, and when I asked the others why that was, they informed me that Carlisle was also one of the school's healers. It seemed to me that Carlisle was doing a lot of things in this school, but I still had yet to see him stressed out.

Until now.

He continuously ran his hand through his hair - a trait I recently realized Edward had inherited from his father. He was sitting at his desk, while Mr. Decour was constantly pacing behind him, only slowing a little to occasionally glance out the window. Chris and I were sitting in the two leather chairs in front of Carlisle's desk, while the others sat on the couches on the other side of the room. Mr. Decour and Carlisle had decided to question us now, rather than Dylan and Edward, who had been in these seats just before us. That was because Chris interrupted when Dylan mentioned the woman in the maze.

Both Chris and I had been able to see her, using our enhanced senses.

"And she came out of the ground?" questioned Mr. Decor. We both nodded.

"Could you be more specific about that?" Carlisle asked gently, a stark contrast to Mr. Decour's current way of questioning.

"It was really strange. She wasn't _just_ green. It was like she was a human plant or something. She kind of grew out of the ground," I explained.

"How did the four of you meet each other, anyway? Usually there are only groups of two or three in there, and even they often get separated from each other," Mr. Decour spoke again.

"Bella, Edward, and Alistair randomly showed up. I don't know how she found me," Chris answered, shrugging.

"I used the bond," I said when Carlisle and Mr. Decour's questioning gazes turned to me. "It led me to where she was."

"Do you know why Alistair went to find you?" asked Carlisle.

"Not really," Chris answered. "I guess he just came to give us the boxes that our wands used to be in." She took her wand box out of her purse and handed it to Carlisle. Mr. Decour tensed at that, and I wondered why that was. He closed his eyes for a moment and then his body relaxed. Meanwhile, Carlisle opened the box to see what was in it. Nothing special, just the dark blue satin cushion on which the wand used to lay. Beneath that was nothing.

"So he just went to give you these?" Carlisle asked in disbelief. Chris and I gave synchronized nods.

"Was there anything else he said?" Mr. Decour asked. His French accent was stronger than usual and he was looking at us intently.

_I don't think we should talk about this in front of Carlisle,_ Chris thought toward me. I knew better than to flinch at her sudden appearance in my mind.

_Don't you trust him?_ I asked her. If she said no, then I would have been rather surprised. I knew I trusted Carlisle a lot and I thought she did, too.

_I do, but he will probably have to tell the headmaster or whatever. It's his job,_ she answered. She was right about that. Everything we told Carlisle now probably wouldn't stay a secret for long. He wasn't in charge here, so he would have to pass our statements onto the higher level power. _We could talk to Laurent later on,_ Chris continued mentally.

_I think we should talk to him after we find out the reason,_ I argued. _If we have to find out, then he probably doesn't know, therefore there is nothing we can tell him and nothing he can tell us._

"Was there anything else?" Carlisle repeated Mr. Decour's question after he received no answer from us.

"No, that was all. We just assumed that it was a Halloween prank or something. Maybe one of those illusions in the maze," Chris answered smoothly, restraining herself from moving. She knew that nervous movement would give away the lie.

Carlisle hummed, "So it would seem."

"And why were you going to his apartment?" Mr. Decour asked, continuing with the Spanish Inquisition.

"I wanted to check on him because I had this feeling that it had been real," I answered.

"If you thought that it was real, then you were not under the impression that Alistair had simply been an illusion, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"So when you left the maze, you wanted to go and check on him, even though he was there? Or did he disappear when you left the maze? If that were the case, you should have been convinced that it was just an illusion."

"No, he didn't disappear. He gave us the boxes outside of the maze, and then we had been looking away for a moment and then he was gone."

"What distracted you?"

"Irina," Chris hissed.

"Irina Milian?" Mr. Decour asked, sounding surprised. We nodded.

"What did she do that diverted your attention?" Carlisle asked.

"She just came to talk, and then she left again, but when we turned back to Alistair, he was gone."

"Were you standing exactly outside of the maze?" Mr. Decour urged.

Dylan spoke up this time, "No, I beamed them away from the crowd, although not very far. We were just at the edge of where the forest starts."

Mr. Decour nodded slowly, not saying anything else. "So, what happened next? You walked to his apartment and found the blood trail on your way there?" All of us nodded.

"Why did you follow the trail, rather than waiting there or going with Alice and Jasper?" Carlisle asked, sounding upset about it.

"We didn't follow the trail. The strange plant woman came around the corner, and Chris had this incredibly strong urge to follow her, and I wasn't going to let my sister go alone," I said.

"And after that?"

"Dylan was suddenly right beside us, while she ran into a dark corner. I tried to hit her with a fireball, but somehow she disappeared, and then Edward showed up. It was barely even a few seconds," Chris told them.

"She disappeared in a corner?" Mr. Decour asked.

"Yes, it was really weird, actually. It looked like the shadow there was reaching out toward her, and then she was gone."

"The shadow..." Mr. Decour mumbled thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the door was being shot open with a loud bang. A girl waltzed right into the room and stopped in front of Carlisle's desk, giving him a harsh look.

"I want to know what the hell happened," she demanded menacingly as she slammed her fist down on the desk.

"Miss Merchile, you are not supposed to be here right now," Carlisle replied calmly.

"I don't give a shit about where I'm supposed to be. My uncle's dead body was found in his shop and you expect me to go to my room and wait until someone _might_ tell me what happened?" she shrieked angrily.

"I know how hard this must be for you right now, Miss Merchile, but-"

"You have no idea how hard this is for me! You have no idea what I'm feeling! He was my only family. I don't have anyone else, so it actually _is_ my right to know what the hell happened!" The girl's shoulders slumped and I could see that she was on the verge of tears.

She was wearing a short blue dress that didn't quite reach her knees and she had small wings on her back. I guessed she was supposed to be a fairy. Her dark blond hair had a lo of highlights in it, which were only amplified in my vision when she looked down to hide her face behind her bangs.

All of us seemed to be a little shocked at her abrupt entrance and her appearance, but we were dragged out of our daze when Carlisle's phone rang.

He picked it up. "Hello? Yes. Yes, it's already taken care of. Okay. He's right here. Of course, we'll be there right away." He hung up the phone and hastily hopped out of his seat. "All of you will go to your dorms, _now._ No stops on the way and no talking to anyone else," he said to us. We all nodded quickly. Then, Carlisle turned to face Mr. Decour. "All of the teachers are required to be in the conference room immediately. The IDM has been informed already. They sent someone from the Crime Control department and the Education department." The two teachers shared meaningful glances.

"I bet Aro is going to be thrilled," Mr. Decour commented. Both men sighed before leaving the room.

When they were gone, we all got up from our seats and looked at each other, not knowing what to do with the crying girl among us.

"Hey, um, Aika, do you want to come with us?" Emmett asked her carefully. Obviously he knew her somehow. She sniffed and pulled a tissue out of her purse before nodding weakly at Emmett's offer.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and reached for it. Even though it was Tuesday today, we didn't have classes because of the dance yesterday, since a lot of students would have stayed out very late and most people wouldn't show up for class, and if they did, they'd probably just fall asleep or something.

"'Lo?" I groggily mumbled into the receiver.

"Get ready, we're having an assembly in an hour and a half," Alice's high-soprano voice blared in my ear.

I sighed and grumbled, "Fine, I'll go get ready."

"Oh, and wake Chris up for me, too. I don't want to call her. She's so grumpy in the mornings," Alice chirped before ending the call.

I hung up the phone and moaned as I started to stretch. I attempted to get up, but when I turned to swing my legs out of bed, an arm wrapped around me and pulled me back.

Oh, right, I'd forgotten that I wasn't alone in my bed.

Last night, we had both been completely worn out from the night's events, and neither of us really wanted to be all alone in the darkness. I hadn't said anything out loud, but Chris had sensed it and invited herself over to take up more than half of my bed. Because of her, my sleep hadn't exactly been relaxing, but it was still better than staying awake all night, which most likely would have happened if it weren't for her.

"Wake up, Chris, we're late for school," I whispered in her ear. Immediately, she opened her eyes and shot up in my bed, glancing at the clock on my alarm to check the time, and then jumping out of my bed, only to freeze.

She looked at me in sleepy confusion before glaring. "We don't have school today," she whined.

"No, we don't, but Alice called and apparently we're having an assembly."

"Assembly? What the hell?"

"Just go get ready," I sighed and lifted myself out of my warm, comfy bed.

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting downstairs, eating breakfast. There weren't very many people in the dining hall, and I assumed that most of them had already eaten breakfast. It was 11:30 after all, and the fact that the common room was full of people kind of helped me come to that conclusion.

"Hey, beautiful," I heard someone greet. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Damon. He walked up to Chris and placed a peck on her cheek. The look on her face told me that something was off. "So, where did you disappear to last night? I thought at first that you didn't make it out of the maze, but Alice and the others disappeared, too, and I know for sure they made it out." Damon looked at the two of us.

"Um, Damon, it's all kind of complicated and I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we have this conversation later?" Chris asked him, sounding much nicer than she usually did. Damon noticed this as well and eyed her strangely. She sent him a small smile, which he returned before walking off.

"Chris, what did you do?" I asked as soon as Damon was out of hearing range.

"Nothing."

"Chris!"

She sighed, "I kissed Dylan," she answered reluctantly.

"What? When?" I all but shrieked.

"Yesterday," she told me slowly, looking at something far away.

So many things had happened yesterday, but I really didn't want to remember the day. Everything good that happened had been overshadowed by one thing. Although I didn't know him very well, Alistair's death still upset me a lot. When we went back to the dorms yesterday, we had been trying to comfort his niece, Aika, who told us that her uncle had been the only person she had. Now he was gone, too. My heart ached for her when she told us that her parents died when she was little and that Alistair had been the one taking care of her for as long as she can remember. Well, before the academy took over most of those duties.

"Well, I kissed Edward," I told her. Chris' eyes focused back on me. "Yesterday," I added.

"What?" Now it was her turn to be surprised. I simply nodded. "Ha! I knew I was good, but I didn't think I was _that_ good," she mumbled quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nevermind. It's not important. So, are you guys like together now?"

"What? No. Of course not. You do remember yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry."

I sighed just as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly glanced at the display. It was a text message from Alice.

_we have to get going!_

She was bossy even through text message.

As soon as Chris and I stepped out of the building, Alice grabbed us and dragged the two of us along.

"Dylan, would you please work your magic?" Alice sighed, pushing us toward Dylan.

Dylan sighed and brushed his hand lightly over my body. He was careful not to touch me, but the fabric of my clothes. As soon as he was done, my clothes turned black. I had been wearing a tight fitted white t-shirt and a pair of denim skinny jeans, with the pair of ankle boots that we bought on our first shopping trip with Alice. Now, it was all black, and I noticed that all of my friends were also dressed in pure black.

"Alice, why-" I started, only to be cut off by Alice.

"Because someone died yesterday and we will wear black for the rest of the week," she explained.

"But we have to wear the school's uniform," Chris interfered.

"Yes, but we will have Dylan, Edward, or Emmett turn it black."

Suddenly, we heard a loud, resounding smack. All of us whipped our heads to look at Chris and Dylan. By the looks of it, Chris had just slapped Dylan straight across the face.

"I always knew that was going to happen sometime," Rose mumbled, looking highly amused.

"What was that for?" Dylan shouted in disbelief.

"For touching me," Chris stated and started to walk away from him. Alice looked at me in question but I simply shrugged. As if I knew what was wrong with her.

We all hurried to catch up with Chris.

"So, it's okay for me to kiss you, but I'm not allowed to touch you? How hypocritical can you get?" Dylan called behind her. Everyone except for me and Edward gasped in shock. The end of Chris' hair suddenly caught fire for a second before it vanished again.

Emmet let out a loud booming laugh and turned to Jasper. "Pay up, man," he demanded, holding out his hand. Jasper mumbled something under his breath and grudgingly handed him a dollar bill.

"You had a bet running?" Rose asked, not sounding very surprised. The two boys shrugged in response.

Meanwhile, Dylan was walking next to Chris and attempting to talk to her. She had started to walk faster, and he was actually having trouble keeping up with her pace. We couldn't hear what they were saying because of the distance, but it seemed like things weren't going very well for Dylan.

"Really, I should have seen that one coming," Alice murmured from beside me.

I shrugged and changed topics. "Where are we having this assembly?"

"The festival building. Hopefully they cleaned up in there already," Alice answered.

We walked for a while, talking a little, but not really bothering to keep up constant conversation. Occasionally, I would glance at Edward, who was walking on the other side of Alice. Every time I did, he was staring at me, which caused me to instantly look down and try to restrain my blush.

Chris and Dylan were still arguing, but I didn't think that Dylan was exactly playing his cards right. He really should know better than to try putting his arm around her shoulder or take her hand the entire time.

When we came to the festival building, it wasn't very crowded yet. There was a stage in it now and the room was filled with chairs. There was nearly no trace of the Halloween dance left. The only thing that remained a reminder of the dance was one of those flying pumpkins, which was racing around the room like crazy, laughing hysterically.

"Everyone duck!" Alice shouted just as the pumpkin came flying toward us. It flew over our heads and a group of people ran after it, trying to catch it.

We went to sit in front, and Chris appeared beside me, looking very annoying.

"I take it your talk didn't go very well," I released a light chuckle.

"I'd rather sit on a bed of needles than go through that again," Chris huffed and flipped her black hair over her shoulder.

A second later, Dylan came to sit next to her. I could practically hear her roll her eyes.

"So, what are we doing here, anyway?" I asked Edward, who had seated himself next to me for some reason.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would say that we're here because of yesterday's events. We only have assemblies when something important happened or is happening. And the fact that the IDM has been informed makes this rather interesting," he answered.

"What is the IDM?" Chris asked before I had the chance.

"It's the Impericum Democratic Maleficarum," Dylan answered her, grinning.

Edward had an amused expression on his face, while I was just plain confused. They didn't really expect this explanation to help me, right?

"It's the Democratic Government of Witches in English," Edward added for my benefit, obviously having sensed my confusion.

"So, there really is a government? How does that work?" I asked, curiously.

"Well, it's kind of like the US government, only it's international. Our current president is in Italy, I think."

"Oh my gosh!" Alice screeched suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Everyone asked at the same time. It was clear that there was worry in all of our voices.

"We're getting a new teacher," Alice whispered, hardly even loud enough for me to hear.

"And why is that a bad thing?" Rose asked.

"She's a demon," Alice answered, her eyes focused on something that none of us could see.

"Is that bad?" Chris and I asked in unison.

"Well...I don't know," Edward told me quietly. Everyone else looked confused, too.

"I thought demons weren't evil," Chris said.

"They're not. Well, not really. Just like witches and humans; some are evil and some are not. But we don't interact with them, so none of us has actually ever _seen_ a demon," Dylan explained.

"Well, that's a first," Chris mumbled.

The room started to fill and a few teachers walked onto the stage. A long table appeared and they sat down. In the middle was a chair that looked more like a throne.

Edward must have seen where Chris and I were curiously staring, because before either of us had the chance to question it, he started explaining. "The school has something like a council. The headmasters are in it, and a few other teachers, as well as the principal."

"Who are the headmasters, other than Carlisle?" I asked.

"Esme is the headmaster of the elementary school, and the headmaster of the college is Mr. Banner. He's awful," Dylan told us with meaningful expression on his face.

"Attention students," the voice of an unknown teacher spoke as he stepped onto the stage. "Please settle down."

"That's Mr. Bergner. He's my French teacher and a total douche," Dylan said with a chuckle.

Mr. Bergner looked like he was in his mid-thirties and was neither handsome nor ugly. He seemed very insecure, though, and I wondered how a person like that could become a teacher. Even though he had just spoken, no one paid attention to him. If possible, the students began getting louder than before. Mr. Bergner had apparently given up and sat down at the table next to Mr. Decour. On the other side of Mr. Decour sat a young woman who was whispering something in his ear. She was beautiful with long curly dark brown hair and dark eyes. I couldn't be sure of the color because of the distance, but I was fairly sure they were green. Next to her was Carlisle, who sat next to the empty throne-like chair. After that was a blond woman who I hadn't seen before.

"Who is that?" I asked Edward, and subtly pointed at the unknown person who sat next to Esme.

"Her? Oh, that's Ms. Miller. She's sort of like the principal's person assistant."

I looked at her and wondered why I hadn't seen her before. She looked rather young. Actually, she looked young enough to be a student here rather than part of the staff. As I was studying her, her eyes suddenly focused on me. Her expression held nothing of interest, no emotion, and I quickly looked away.

"If you touch me again, I swear I'm going to hit you a lot harder than I did before," Chris hissed beside me. She slapped Dylan slightly on the arm.

Somehow, her behaviour was strange. If she had really kissed him, then why was she acting so cold toward him?

I couldn't concentrate on her strange behaviour any longer, though, because two things happened at once.

Edward decided to take my hand, making that electrical spark appear again. I looked up at him and saw him smiling down at me with a fond expression on his face. When he squeezed my hand lightly, I ignored my heart - which was almost bursting through my chest - and concentrated on the other thing.

A tall dark-haired man strolled passed us and moved up on the stage, sitting down in the middle of the table. Behind him was a woman with hair so wild and red it looked more like flames than actual hair. She was tall and thin and her movements reminded me of a cat.

"What on earth is the secretary doing here?" Dylan asked no one in particular.

"Are you talking about the redhead?" Chris asked him.

"Yeah. That's Ms. Nomad. She sits in front of Mr. Volturi's office all day, doing...well, nothing, really."

Ms. Nomad went to stand on the side, next to two men I hadn't seen before.

"And who are those two?" I questioned.

"Hmm? Oh, the one that looks a little grey is Demetri Sleigh. He's the janitor, but you hardly ever see him. The other one is James Nomad. He's Ms. Nomad's husband, and that's really the only reason he's even here," Dylan explained quickly.

Chris looked like she was going to comment on that, but she kept quiet because Carlisle rose from his chair and waltzed up to the podium. As soon as he stood there, everyone immediately quieted.

"Good morning, students!" he said lightly. Even though there was no microphone, his voice rang loud and clear throughout the room. There was no doubt that everyone in the room could hear him.

I figured it was some kind of spell.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen!" a few voices shouted back, sounding like a choir with how in-tune they were with one another.

I turned to see that the greeting came from the older elementary students. A few people chuckled at that, but soon, silence once again ensued in the room.

Carlisle had a serious expression on his face as he spoke, "As all of you know, assemblies like this are only necessary when we have to announce something important. I'm sorry to tell you all that today, we also have to make an unfortunate, sad announcement. That being said, we regret to inform you that last night, Alistair Merchile was found dead." A few murmurs and whispers erupted throughout the crowd.

I guessed that we were the only people who didn't say anything. Thinking about Alistair's dead body was actually not what I wanted to do right now.

I hadn't even realized that I tensed up until Edward started rubbing soothing circles on my hand with his thumb. It helped me relax a little.

"Let's please have a moment of silence in honor of Mr. Merchile," Carlisle continued. As soon as these word left his mouth, everyone in the room went silent. Not a single person in the room murmured even one word, and the only movements were small ones of people bowing their heads respectfully. Occasionally, a person would release a quiet cough, but other than that, it was quiet. "Now, our principal, Aro Volturi, would like to say a few words, and announce the details we know about the death of Mr. Merchile," Carlisle said went the minute was over. He went to sit down again, and in that same moment, Mr. Volturi got up and walked to the front. He was an elegant man, and his movements were graceful and had a gentle air to them.

"Due to yesterday's events, the IDM has decided to enforce new rules for the school's security. As of now, we are positive that Mr. Merchile was murdered, thanks to the statements of a few students," Mr. Volturi's voice was calm and even a little soothing, but that still didn't stop the whispers from ringing out once again. They all came to a halt, though, when the principal cleared his throat. "To ensure all of your safety, we have a few new rules for you to follow. No one is to walk around campus alone after dawn - you must be in a group of at _least_ three. From now on, you are also expected to be in your houses by eight at the latest." A chorus of groans from the students echoed around the room because of his latter announcement.

Mr. Volturi smiled gently and continued, "Also, we have a new teacher joining us. She has been recommended by the IDM, as they wanted someone here to check in with them every now and then. That is why Ms. Carmina is here. She will be assisting Mr. Decour in his specialization classes. I want you all to be open-minded, please. This is a historical moment for our school, and I don't want it to be ruined because of any kind of prejudices." He looked at the crowd with a strict expression. "Ms. Carmina is a demon, and each of you will try to make her feel welcome. Otherwise, the IDM might send all of you home until they find Mr. Merchile's murderer," he added.

The whispering stopped and was replaced by pure chaos breaking out. It seemed like everything was extremely excited. I could barely even hear Mr. Volturi dismissing us as Emmett lead us outside. He simply pushed us through the crowd, allowing us to get out as fast as possible.

"This new curfew is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to me!" Alice whined as soon as we exited the overly crowded room.

"Are you sure about that?" Rose asked her dryly.

"Well...no, but it's still horrible."

"Just deal with it, Alice," Edward sighed.

"I don't even think they're going to catch her," Jasper grumbled.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Well, if she really grows out of the ground and vanishes in shadows, then I highly doubt that the crime department will be able to catch her." It was logical, and it definitely made sense. All of us nodded in agreement.

"You know, we should do something to distr-" Alice started, but was cut off when Damon caught up to us, followed shortly by Dean.

"Chris! You still owe me a talk," Damon shouted before wrapping his arms around her from behind, effectively pushing Dylan away, but it was obvious that Damon didn't notice what he did.

At the same time, Dean came to my side and lifted his arm to put it on my shoulder, but before he could do it, he dropped his arm. I looked at him in confusion, but he wasn't looking directly at me. I followed his gaze and realized that he was staring at my hand, which was intertwined with Edward's. I hadn't even noticed that we were still holding hands.

I quickly let go, ignoring the protesting sound that came from Edward and the urge to take back his hand.

"I think we need to talk," I told Dean, who seemed to be looking at anything but me. He nodded.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

I threw myself on my bed and released a deep, loud sigh. I'd never had to tell a guy that I couldn't see him anymore because there was someone else. Well, there's a first for everything.

It had been awkward, to say the least, since I actually liked Dean. Just not in the way that he wanted me to. I was pretty sure that he was on the verge of tears when I told him that I couldn't date him anymore, which only made me feel even worse than I already had.

I really just wanted to bury myself in my bed for the rest of the day. Alice and the others knew now that something had happened between me and Edward, and I honestly didn't want to deal with them right now. Chris was probably dealing with her own issues right now, so I just pulled the covers over my head and laid still.

The sound of my door being opened and closed again didn't even give me the slightest bit of motivation to move. I already knew that it was Chris, since the only other person to storm in my room without knocking was Emmett and he was usually a lot louder than that.

Chris collapsed on my bed beside me and crawled under the covers.

"How did your talk go?" she asked me, her voice giving away that she was exhausted.

"Great," I answered sarcastically. "I think I made Dean cry."

"Nice."

"How was yours?"

"It was interesting, to say the least. I mean, I've never seen Damon freak out before, so...yeah," Chris said.

"So, did you guys break up?"

"What?" I could practically hear her raising her eyebrows. "No. That would be stupid."

"Why would that be stupid?"

"Because I like Damon and he likes me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be wasting my time with him, right?"

"Then why did you kiss Dylan in the first place?"

There was a short silence before Chris answered. "I don't really know. It just...happened."

"Do you regret it?" I asked softly.

"What's with all these questions, Bella?" she asked, avoiding the question I asked her.

I sighed. "Just answer the question, Chris." I knew from experience that I had to pretty much interrogate her to get her to talk about her feelings.

"No, I don't. It just felt right, you know?"

"Yes, I know," I heaved another sigh. The emotions I was getting from Chris through the bond were all too familiar. It was the same thing I felt around Edward, only a little less electric.

"That's just so messed up," Chris mumbled.

"You know, I don't really get why you didn't break up with Damon when you obviously have a thing for Dylan."

"Because I like Damon. He's nice and sweet, and...I don't know...caring. But Dylan is arrogant, annoying, and stupid."

"So he's exactly like you."

Chris grew sarcastic at my remark. "Thanks so much, Bella."

"Oh, you know what I mean. You two would be perfect together."

"No, I don't think so. He treats me just like he treats every other girl he wants to have, and I don't like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Chris sighed. "You know that Dylan just goes from one girl to the next, and I don't want to be number 236 on his list. That's just...messed up, gross, wrong."

"So you want a happily ever after with Dylan? I never thought that you would be the romantic type."

"I'm not. I just don't like being treated like everyone else. But enough of me. How's Edward?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Did you guys talk?"

"Not yet," I mumbled. "I'm currently hiding."

Chris chuckled. "Are you scared of him?"

"No, I'm scared of Alice and Rose," I answered seriously.

"Yeah, I guess you should be," she replied.

Suddenly there was a knock on my door. Both Chris and I shot up and exchanged a confused look before we shouted, "Come in!" at the same time.

My breath hitched when I saw who entered my room. It was Edward. Speaking of the devil..

He looked at me with a small smile on his lips before his eyes wandered over to Chris and made that smile turn into a frown. I started to wonder why pretty much everyone reacted like this in her presence.

"Oh, Edward, what are you doing here?" Chris asked in a overly friendly, much too cheery voice.

"Well, I just...I want to talk to Bella," he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the floor a little. I realized that he was nervous and I held back a giggle. It seemed ridiculous that _Edward Cullen_, of all people, would be nervous to talk to me. But why was he nervous?

My heart sped up in fear. Did he change his mind again? I didn't think I could handle another rejection from him.

"Go ahead, Edward!" Chris encouraged.

I released a quiet sigh at her insensitivity. _Don't you have a boyfriend to mess around with?_ I thought to her. She flinched, and from her emotional response, it wasn't because I'd sent this quiet message, but rather because of what words I'd said. I smiled evilly to myself, but smoothed it out quickly. I didn't want turn into Chris and become sadistic and sarcastic.

"Alone," Edward stated, giving Chris a meaningful glare. She acted like this surprised her and looked at me for a second before she turned back to Edward and shrugged, hopping off the bed.

"I'm just gonna go to my room and sit right beside the wall, listening. Which I don't even have to do, since I have special Bella TV," she grinned at Edward as she stood in front of him. She reached out and tugged lightly on his shirt, smoothing out a few wrinkles on his shoulders in the process.

For some reason, it bothered me that she was touching him and grinning so brightly while doing so. If it weren't for the fact that I could read her mind, I would have thought she had a thing for Edward. Not that anyone could blame her.

"You better do it well, Eddiekins. Don't forget that I'll just be on the other side of the wall and that I'll be able to hear every word you say," Chris reassured him. "No pressure." She gave a quick wink in my direction before skipping out of my room.

"I really don't know how you managed to live sixteen years with her. Are you sure the two of you are twins?" Edward asked, pointing at the door that had just shut behind my sister.

"That's what my mom told my Dad," I said. "If it's true, then it's something nobody knows." I hoped I sounded as relaxed as I wanted to feel despite my racing heart.

Edward let out a quiet chuckle before sitting down on my couch. I quickly jumped up from my bed and scrambled to site beside him.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked him.

He looked at his hand in his lap. Before I realized what was happening, he'd grabbed one of my hands and idly began playing with my fingers. It didn't bother me in the least, actually I enjoyed the contact between us as much as I enjoyed his presence. I watched as his long fingers traced patterns on my hand and left that tingling sensation in their wake, making me momentarily forget why he was there. And even worse, why I was there.

"I don't hear any talking!" I suddenly heard Chris' voice sing from the other side of the wall. The sound of her voice startled me enough to pull myself back into reality.

I looked up at Edward shyly, only to find him grinning down sheepishly at me.

"Seriously, guys," Chris continued, "if I don't hear you talking in two seconds, I'll be in Bella's head, ruining your last bit of privacy. I'll even call Alice and give her a play-by-play. If you're making out right now, that should be highly entertaining."

Edward and I sighed in unison.

"I have this theory that maybe my parents accidentally forgot my real twin at the playground and took the child of some mafia boss with them instead," I said.

"That would explain so many things," Edward mused.

"Really?" I asked him, smiling flirtatiously. "Like what?"

Edward stared at me for a second open-mouthed before he blinked rapidly and closed it again. "Well, for one, you're not evil-minded. You're very sweet, caring, and considerate. You're also the most intelligent girl I've ever met, and you're the better-looking twin," he answered, grinning that crooked grin at me.

"Is that all?"

"No, not even close. But my vocabulary isn't vast enough to express how stunning you are, and even if it were, the words aren't up to par with your beauty."

I smiled in shy delight at that. As far as I could remember, no one had ever told me that. Well, actually, I was sure that no one had ever said that to me.

"I, uh, actually came here to ask you out," Edward broke the short silence.

"What?" I asked, a little dumbfounded. I didn't know why this was such a surprise to me, after all he did say that he cared about me and he had just made it sound like I was the most wonderful person in the world, so a date seemed to be the next adequate step.

"You and me, on a date. Whatever you like, you choose. The sky is the limit, though," he joked.

"And here I thought witches could ride broomsticks," I mumbled.

"It is possible, but no one actually does that. So, what do you say?"

"Hmm...I want to..." I stopped and thought about it for a minute. I came to the conclusion that I honestly had no idea what I wanted. Back home, it would have already been sunny enough to take a walk along the beach or go watch the ships at the docks. I internally sighed as I realized how much I missed the heat and the sun. Even though the sun is still shining on campus, it had gotten a little colder the last few days, much to my and Chris' dismay.

"If you could bring the sun and the beach here, that would be the most perfect thing ever," I said dreamily, imagining how it would feel to lay under the sun on the beach with Edward holding my hand while the sun beamed down, burning my skin.

I'd probably have a hard time deciding which was hotter: the sun or Edward. I smiled at that thought.

"The beach, huh? Well then, the beach it is! I'll pick you up from Alice's room on Saturday," Edward said enthusiastically, jumping up off the bed.

"Why Alice's room?" I asked him in confusion.

"Come on, you and I both know that Chris will probably tell Alice about our date, and then Alice will insist on dressing you. Which really isn't a bad idea..." his voice trailed off while he gazed at me intently. He licked his bottom lip slowly and I quirked a brow at him.

"I hope you're not imagining me naked, Edward." The way the tips of his ears turned red and his cheeks tinged pink made me laugh a little.

"I wasn't imagining you naked," he defended himself. "You were in a bathing suit."

Suddenly, my door burst open. "Okay, kids, time's up!" Chris shouted, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

Chris' sudden appearance managed to startle both Edward and I, and when my heartbeat finally returned to it's normal pace (well, as normal as it can be with Edward near), I glared at her.

"What the hell? Are you my father now or something?" I hissed.

"No, but I do have a very good connection with said person," Chris answered nonchalantly.

I didn't get why she was behaving like this. Normally she was all for leaving me alone with a guy, but of course she had to change her game plan when it came to leaving me with the one guy I actually cared about - the one guy I'd actually like to be left alone with.

"Well...I guess I should get...going?" Edward sounded highly confused as he looked from me to Chris and back to me. He bent down and brushed his lips across my check. "See you tomorrow," he murmured quietly to me, his sweet breath fanning over my skin and making me shiver.

I nodded, unable to answer him because of the effect he had on me.

"Bye Chris," he said, brushing passed her after he glanced back at me once more.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile in return and turned to shout after him, "It's Mr. Swan to you!"

I smacked my forehead at her stupidity and moved to crawl back into my bed. "Can't you be normal again? You're getting really annoying these days," I complained.

"Um, excuse me? Is that not the guy that seems to be awfully idiotic? You obviously like him more than you should, so I'm taking care of you."

"What is that supposed to me? Don't you think I'm capable of taking care of myself?"

"No, you're not. If he decides to go and break your heart again, I'm going to be the one who has to put the pieces back together one by one," she retorted heatedly.

I jumped up from my bed again and put my hands on my hips, mimicking Chris' position perfectly.

"I didn't ask you to do that. If he breaks my heart, then let me deal with it," I told her angrily.

"But you can't! You're not able to handle such things, and now if you suffer, I have to go through the same thing as you," she practically yelled.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm emotionally unstable?" I shot back her at the same volume, my voice holding a little bit of incredulity.

Her face softened. "No, I just-" I cut her off.

"You just think that you have to be there to deal with my business instead of your own. You only want something to distract you from your own problems. You never deal with those. All you do is come around and poke your nose into _my_ business."

"I'm only trying to help you. I don't want you to feel miserable just because Edward loses interest in you. You won't be the only one suffering, remember? The bond gets stronger with every passing day, and sometimes, I feel more of your emotions than mine."

"So this is really all about you?" I asked, anger seeping into my voice. I wasn't really one to ever get angry, but she was really pissing me off at this point. It was _my_ life, not hers.

"No, it's not. But I'm telling you that your pain is going to be my pain as well, and-"

"And you can't handle it," I snapped. "And you think that if you can't handle it, then I can't handle it, either. You want me to take your advice so we can both save _you_ from suffering. I can't believe you're being that selfish!"

By now we stood face to face, glaring icily at one another.

"I am not selfish. I do so many things for you and all I get in return is your telling me I'm selfish. It's nice to know that you appreciate me this much," Chris half-whispered.

"Oh, really? What do you do? All I can remember is you messing with things that should be left for me to deal with. I'm the one who does everything for you. I'm the one who always gets you out of trouble. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be here today!"

"Oh, please, you're not that super, Isabella. You're not perfect."

"I never said I was," I told her.

"But you make it sound like you think you are. I would have been perfectly fine throughout my life without your help. You, on the other hand, would not be what you are today without me."

"You didn't raise me, Chris, so stop taking credit for the things that other people did. You and I both know that you spent most of your time getting into trouble and waiting for me to get you out of it. I'm not your savior. Try and deal with your problems on your own and leave me alone for once. I don't need you," I hissed the last words at her with narrowed eyes.

She glared at me, her nostrils flaring, and opened her mouth to retort something, but then she snapped it shut and looked down at her hands. They were burning. She looked at me one more time before she stomped to my door.

I hoped that she would be smart enough not to touch my door, and surprisingly, she didn't. She did an angry hand motion and the door opened.

_Well, congratulations, Chris, you've finally managed to use telekinesis as well,_ I thought to her, internally sneering.

The door slammed shut behind her with a loud, resounding bang and I stood there, glaring at it.

How could a person be so...so infuriating?

I threw myself on my bed and screamed into my pillow.

**Dylan POV**

I woke up abruptly, my skin sticking to my sheets due to the sweat covering my body. I took a deep breath to calm myself. It had been a long time since I woke up from nightmares. I hadn't really had any since I was a kid.

I glanced over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was already 8 in the morning. With a sigh, I slumped back into my pillows for a second before I untangled myself from my blankets and heaved myself out of bed.

There was no way I could sleep again.

I trotted through my much too large room, and into my bathroom. Since the thick curtains in my room had been closed, the light in my bathroom blinded me momentarily when I walked in.

I would have to curse Alice again for insisting on letting me have a bright bathroom like that. Nearly everything was white, aside from the huge shower. That was black.

I quickly stripped and hopped into the dark shower before my eyes had the chance to burn in the bright light. I felt like I was hungover - which was not a pleasant feeling at all - but the dream had just been so vivid and realistic that I was seriously still shaking on the inside.

There had been blood everywhere and no way out of the room. Only me and-

I shook the thought out of my head and started chanting to myself that it had only been a dream.

After my long and hot shower, I actually felt better. By the time I stepped out, I was feeling like my normal self again.

A person that had yet to deal with a whole set of new emotions toward a girl that was the same age as my little sister.

I sighed at that.

Chris was definitely harder to get than any other girl I had ever encountered, but I knew that with a little time and effort, she'd be mine in no time at all. Just the thought of that made me smile. My mind would have wandered further if it hadn't been for my phone blaring.

"Alice, why are you calling me this early when we don't have school? Or rather, why are you calling me at all? You're room's just down the hall," I complained instead of answering the phone in a normal, polite way.

"Good morning to you too, Dylan! Carlisle just called and told me that we have an assembly today at 12. So try to be on time." And with that, she hung up.

I rolled my eyes and snapped my phone shut before turning to my closet and hastily dressing.

As soon as I had my shirt pulled over my head, I beamed into Edward's room and landed dead center in his big bedroom. His king-sized bed was right beside his window, and he was still laying on it, snoring loudly.

I smirked smugly to myself as I crept toward his bed.

It was rather fortunate that I was no longer crashing into things when I appeared in another place. A few years ago, I had to concentrate extremely hard just to change locations, and even harder so that I wouldn't crash into anything.

Now it was like a second nature to me, which was exactly why I was able to sneak up on the snoring Edward.

I sat down on his bed and looked at him. Judging by his smile, he must have been having a very happy dream.

And based on a few other symptoms, I knew it was a very _very_ happy dream.

I bit back a laugh. When I was able to compose myself, I cleared my throat before speaking in the highest-pitched voice I possibly could.

"Oh, Eddiekins! Wake up!" I sang. I even went as far as tracing patterns on his arm for a second.

"I'm awake," he mumbled in a voice that did not sound awake at all.

"Get up, Edwaaaarrrdd," I sang again.

"No, I wanna stay in bed with you, Bella," he replied and grabbed my hand to place a kiss on it.

That did it. I burst out laughing so hard that his entire bed started shaking.

And that definitely woke Edward up. He bolted straight up in his bed and looked around in sleepy confusion with furrowed brows.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

I just shook my head, trying to catch my breath. "You...just...dream...Bella," I gasped out, but I couldn't finish. All I did was start laughing again.

Edward's eyes widened before he narrowed them at me. I knew that he was going to read my mind, and for once, I didn't bother starting a mental battle. Instead, I let him intrude on my thoughts. When he found what he was looking for, he gasped in shock and sunk back into his pillows, pulling the cover over his head.

"Don't you have your own life to live? Why do you have to ruin mine?" he whined, sounding like a petulant child.

"Oh, dear brother, I didn't come to ruin your life. I just thought I'd inform you that we're having an assembly today," I said innocently.

"When?"

"At 12, I believe."

"It's 9."

"I wanted you to be able to get up early, so you can get your makeup fixed."

Edward's head reappeared, the mess he calls his hair sticking in every direction more so than usual.

"You hangout with Emmett too much," he noted.

"Cam you blame me? The kid is hilarious."

He sighed and sat up again. "So why are you really here?" he asked.

"Do I need higher motives to visit you early in the morning?"

"Um, yeah, actually you do, since you're never really awake at this time."

"Well, I am today," I pouted.

He narrowed his eyes at me again. I turned back at him and entered his mind. There were millions of little different mechanisms in his head, each one with it's own special purpose. All I had to do was find the switch for his mind reading.

We did this every now and then. Edward would try to read my mind and I would try to switch his ability off. The sad thing about mind control, though, is that minds can shift and in that, it becomes harder to control them.

Edward always knows what I'm doing, so he can concentrate on shifting his mind consciously, which no normal person can do just like that; they'd have to learn how to control their minds to shift enough so that my mind control wouldn't work.

Right now, I really wished he couldn't do it because I didn't come into his room to talk about my disturbing dream. I just had the need to be around someone.

"HA! I got it!" Edward cheered.

"Dammit!" I cursed and pulled myself out of his mind.

"Pretty intense dream," he commented.

I heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I know."

"You know that's just more evidence that you-"

I cut him off, knowing he'd start speaking more nonsense about feelings again. "Yeah, yeah. You think I'm in love or something. I'm telling you, it's not like that. I'm just more attracted to her than any other girl."

"Then why does the dream terrify you so much?" Edward asked, getting up from his bed.

"I'm sorry," I said sarcastically. "Is it not a little disturbing to dream about a person dead?"

"Yeah, it is, but still, it wasn't just any person."

"I could have dreamed about you dead just as easily. It was probably just a mental reaction to yesterday," I muttered.

"Would you have freaked out like that if it had been my dead body that you were locked in a room with?" Edward asked as he disappeared into his bathroom.

"Yeah, of course! You're like a brother to me; you're practically family," I shouted so he could hear me.

Edward came back and leaned against the bathroom door frame with a toothbrush in his mouth and an expression that clearly said he didn't find that one funny.

Chris probably would have.

That thought made him grin and in return, I rolled my eyes at him.

"Don't say a word," I warned him.

Edward just shrugged and vanished inside the bathroom again. I heaved myself off of his bed and followed behind him.

"You know, you really aren't in any position to be giving me advice on how to handle the strange feelings I have around a Swan girl, since you, my friend, are in the same position," I advised him as I stood behind him, watching him brush his teeth.

"Yaa, bah unlike ooh, I acly hak tu hah," he answered, his toothbrush in his mouth.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

He rolled his eyes and spat quickly before he spoke. "Yeah, but unlike you, I actually talked to Bella," he repeated, looking at me meaningfully.

"What's that supposed to mean? I tried talking to her in the maze, but she just wouldn't listen," I argued back.

"Wa cou be cause you kiff er wizo skin."

"Hey man, don't brush and talk at the same time," I told him.

Edward quickly rinsed his mouth out and then he turned to me. "You can't just walk around campus and kiss random girls, expecting them to fall for you right away. That's not how life works."

"That is so not what you said before."

All I got in response was a glare.

I sighed and continued, "And it might not be how life works, but it certainly is how _my_ life works. I've been using that technique since ninth grade and it's never failed before," I smiled smugly.

"That's because you carefully choose the girls who will fall for it. You've got a nose for such things. But you can't win Chris over that way. She does have a little of her sister's common sense." He smiled a huge, goofy grin at the mention of Bella.

"Okay, then, Mr. Game Plan. You know that you're advice is actually worthless, considering the fact that you didn't have a normal relationship yourself, and you're a mind reader. So I don't see why I should take your advice."

"Maybe that's _because_ I'm a mind reader," he told me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I rolled my eyes again before I beamed out of his room. I reappeared on the basketball court and immediately saw that I wasn't the only one up already. A few guys were playing a game of basketball and a few girls were watching. I knew some of them.

"Hey Dylan," the dark-haired girl of the bunch greeted, smiling at me.

"Hey," I replied halfheartedly. My original idea was for me to join in their game and play a little b-ball, but the boys seemed to be in the middle of a heavy battle right now and I really didn't want to disturb their game.

"Where have you been all this time? I never get to see you anymore. The past few weeks, you haven't even come to any of our parties," a redhead commented.

I scrambled in my mind for the names of these girls. I think the redhead was Cindy and the dark-haired girl was Cynthia or something. There was also another dark-haired girl sitting, but I had no idea what her name was.

"Yeah, I've been busy," I answered lamely.

"Oh really? We thought Kate was holding you captive. I was actually kinda shocked to see you with one girl for longer than five minutes."

I looked into her light brown eyes. Until now, I'd never noticed how plain and boring her eyes were. "I always stick around for more than five minutes. You, of all people, should know that," I said and ran a hand through my hair.

She stared at me wide-eyed while her friends giggled quietly and I smiled at her in return.

But for some reason, I wasn't able to keep up the smile. Instead, I started to notice other things about her. Her nose, for example, was a little too big and her lips were too thin for her face and out of proportion. Her hair bothered me because it didn't look as full, soft, and shiny as-

I stopped the thought. It was ridiculous for me to think things like that. I couldn't - shouldn't - be doing that.

But my mind seemed to disagree. In fact, my whole being reacted completely different from what I wanted it to. Cindy was a pretty girl, so why was I so...so...obsessed? Why couldn't I see the girl the way she was, like I used to, instead of imagining her as someone else?

I sighed and gave up. I already knew the answer, but I was still trying to get away from it. But now that I surrendered, the images started to whirl around my mind.

Her smug expression when we first met at the airport. Her angry glare when we met again. The shocked expression on her face when she burned off her clothes and realized she was naked. Obviously the sight of her naked body and her standing in front of me in her underwear. All of these things started to get to me now and I couldn't get her out of my head.

I noticed the most trivial things about her without her even realizing it. She liked to wear her hair down, for example, and whenever she was angry, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Her favorite color changed depending on her mood, and currently, it was purple.

I wasn't even sure how I knew that, I just..._did._

I breathed out another sigh. Christabel Swan was like a force of nature. She just bursts in and leaves more than enough evidence that she's been there. Plenty enough to keep people thinking about her for a long time. Just like she did to me. I couldn't get her out of my head when I was alone, but now that I'd kissed her and had a taste of the most exotically delicious fruit in the world, I couldn't get her out of my head, period.

"Hey, Dylan, what are you daydreaming about?" Cindy purred from beside me. She had scooted closer and positioned herself in a way that gave me a wonderful view of her cleavage.

Well, it would have been a wonderful view, had my mind not be overtaken by someone else entirely.

I shrugged in reply to her question and turned my attention back to the basketball game.

"You know, we really should get together again sometime. We haven't spent much time alone since our junior year," she said.

"Yeah, maybe," I answered slowly, then hurriedly added, "I gotta go." As soon as the words left my mouth, I beamed myself to my bedroom and threw myself onto my bed, resisting the strong urge to scream.

This was highly frustrating. How is a person supposed to be able to think right when all they can think about is a girl?

Being a teenager is definitely not as sweet and carefree as everyone made it sound when we were kids.

I laid on my bed and let my thoughts wander. Most of them revolved around Chris; my dreams mixed with memories.

My dream had started out nicely, but then everything turned darker. My memory of Chris laughing turned to one of Chris laughing at me. Her expression changed into something much more evil, and even though she was still beautiful, her face was nothing like it was supposed to be. All of the warmth had been replaced by a cold hatred and now she was slowly walking toward me.

When she reached me, she kissed me lightly on my lips and I closed my eyes to revel in the feel, only to snap them open abruptly when Chris suddenly thrust her hand through my chest and grabbed my heart, crushing it and leaving me laying there in excruciating pain. It hadn't even been real, yet it was still somehow the worst pain I could imagine. But all she did was laugh at my pain and attempt to hurt me even more.

"Dylan!" a sharp voice called, effectively pulling me out of my slumber.

I hadn't even realized that I'd fallen asleep.

Alice stood next to my bed, her tiny hands on her hips as she impatiently tapped her foot. "Get up, we have to go," she instructed hastily before strutting out of my room.

I quickly scrambled to my feet and followed her.

Just then, I realized that the little dress and incredibly high heels that she was wearing were all black. She was even carrying a black purse and her bracelet was black as well.

"Alice, why are you wearing all black?" I asked in confusion.

She turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. "You do remember that someone died yesterday, right?" she asked.

"Well, actually, I tried to put that somewhere in the back of my mind, but I guess I should probably go change, too."

"Oh, no, we don't have time for you to go to your room and change now."

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows at her. "Okay, first of all, I can beam, Alice. And second, I'm also a witch. I know it's amazing, but it's true." With a hand motion of my clothes, they instantly turned black. "Happy?" I asked.

She didn't bother to answer. She simply continued walking along.

Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and Edward were sitting by the fountain, waiting for us. None of them were wearing black clothes, and Alice noticed that immediately.

"Why are you all dressed as if this were a carnival?" she snapped at them, sounding oddly similar to a mother.

"Um, Alice, this is a Chanel dress. It's not-" Rose started, only to be cut off by Alice.

"I don't care. Dylan, turn her clothes black as well."

I sighed and stepped closer to Rose.

"Wait, wait, wait," Rosalie said, holding up her hands in a halting movement. "You can't just turn it black."

"Don't worry, it'll turn back in 24 hours," I reassured her and lifted my hand to her shoulder. Before I could go any further, Emmett, who had already turned his own clothes black, interrupted.

"Hey man, no offense, but I'd rather do that myself," he pushed me away from Rose.

I didn't bother saying anything about that. My mood was momentarily not-so-brilliant thanks to that awful dream that continued to plague my mind.

"Let's go get the twins," Alice chirped happily as soon as all of us were clothed in black.

The two mentioned people stepped out of the Blue House as soon as we got close to it.

The moment I saw Chris, my mood brightened significantly. She was even more beautiful than I remembered, and I had only seen her the day before.

Alice skipped toward them and dragged them back to us. She was being as lovable and considerate as always.

"Dylan, would you please work your magic?" she sighed, sounding as if she was working overtime.

With a sigh of my own, I let my hand wander lightly over Bella's body. I tried to avoid touching her as much as I could, and since she didn't complain, I must have succeeded.

"Alice, why-" Bella started to ask as she looked down at herself while I turned to Chris. I didn't bother listening to the rest of the conversation. Instead, I simply enjoyed the sight of Chris.

She didn't look at me. Well, her eyes flicked in my direction for half a second before she turned to stare at something far away, but that was it. Her hair was like a curtain around her face, hiding it from other people. I knew that when her hair was like that, she was upset in someway, about something, or just in a bad mood. Again, I had to wonder why I knew such things.

I lifted my hand to her shoulder and was immediately filled with warmth as I touched her. Chris shivered for a second and this time, she did look at me. I tried to be as gentle as I had been with Bella and let my hand do the work without actually touching, but somehow, her body seemed to have some sort of magnetic force because I suddenly felt the need to touch her and I couldn't help it.

I let my hand trail down her body and was about to rejoice when a loud smack accompanied by a stinging pain took over my right cheek.

She'd slapped me. Straight across my face.

I looked at her in disbelief. "What was that for?" I shouted.

"For touching me," she answered in a rather cold voice and stomped away.

I shuddered at how similar she was to the dream Chris right now.

"So it's okay for me to kiss you, but I'm not allowed to touch you? How hypocritical can you get?" I called after her, knowing it would get her attention.

The end of her hair suddenly erupted in flames, only to vanish a moment later.

I knew it wasn't the time for my thoughts - I was quite literally playing with fire - but I couldn't help but notice how hot that actually was. I stared for a short second before I composed myself and rushed to catch up with her. Even though she tried to get rid of me by increasing her pace, I managed not to fall behind.

"You know, we really should talk," I said.

"I have nothing to say to you," she replied bluntly.

"Oh really? I believe you owe me an explanation as to why you just slapped me. You could have ruined my pretty face."

"Do I honestly have to explain why I slapped you?"

"Um, yes? You can't just randomly slap guys."

"And you can't just randomly grab girls," she retorted.

"Just admit that you liked it and you were embarrassed," I smiled at her.

"I hate that smile," she stated.

I instantly frowned. "You don't like me smiling?" I pouted.

"No, I don't like you smiling like that. When you smile genuinely, it's fine, but I don't like your player grin."

"Player grin?" I was really confused.

She didn't bother answering me, so I just shrugged and moved onto the next topic.

"Okay, so I've been thinking-"

"Oh, wow."

I ignored her. "And I really think you and I need to spend some quality time together."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked in disbelief. Oh, I so got her.

"It can be whatever you want it to be, baby," I told her, waggling my eyebrows as I slung my arm over her shoulders.

"Ugh, do you even listen to yourself?" she asked in a disgusted tone and pushed my arm off.

"What's wrong?"

"You're being an ass, that's what's wrong."

"I am not. Was I not perfectly polite?"

"Yes, and you were also perfectly revolting. Seriously, why do you think I would fall for that?"

"Because every girl does?" I answered, though it came out more like a question.

"Well, I'm not part of that 'every girl', and I really doubt that every girl is that stupid. You just choose the really dumb ones."

"Are you saying that you're too intelligent to date me?" I asked. "You do realize that I'm in college, right?"

"I still wonder how you got in there. But still, that's not my point. If you were smart, you would get it," she muttered.

"Just admit that you're attracted to me and we can skip all of this nonsense," I suggested.

"Do you remember Damon? He's my _boyfriend_, which is why you and I are never going to happen."

"He wouldn't have to know," I said, not really meaning the words my mouth was spewing.

Chris sighed in exasperation.

Somehow, this was not working the way I wanted it to. Maybe Edward was right; I should think of a new game plan.

I took a deep breath. "Can't you just dump Damon and date me instead?" I asked, my voice almost pleading. I reached for her hand and looked at her intently.

Chris stared back at me in surprise, not saying anything. Then I saw something flash across her face and she snapped her hand back. "Why should I?" she asked quietly.

I frowned at that. I'd never really thought about that...I just wanted her to. "Why shouldn't you?" I retorted instantly.

The annoyed expression on her face returned and I guessed that I had answered wrong. Damn, why do smart girls have to be so complicated?

We couldn't continue our conversation because the others caught up with us then. I figured that wasn't really a bad thing, since the conversation hadn't been going very well for me.

I really didn't know how to get Chris. Throughout the assembly, I tried to be as close to her as I possibly could, but all that seemed to do was annoy and bother her, so eventually, I just left her alone.

The rest of my day was painfully boring. I didn't pay attention to anything the others said when we were all hanging out in Alice's room. Chris and Bella were no where to be seen, and Edward was also somewhere over the rainbow. We didn't look for them, though, because Alice told us not to. So we all just sat around and did pretty much nothing in particular.

**Chris POV**

"You really should talk to her," Damon mumbled softly as he gently played with my hair.

The teachers had announced that today was officially going to be the last sunny day. After that, we would have to deal with the cold of winter, so Damon and I had decided to sit outside. He was leaning against a tree and my head was resting on his lap. There were quite a few people running all around us, all of them enjoying the feel of the last day of summer.

"Why do I have to talk to her? She'll be playing all high and mighty again and act as if all of this was my fault," I whined.

"She's your sister," Damon answered.

"That's not a good reason."

It had been one week since Bella and I had gotten into our fight. She wanted me to leave her alone, so I did just that. She had Edward now, so she wouldn't need me to deal with creepy guys, anyway.

Bella had never known that half of the guys I beat up throughout my life had been punishments for their perverted idiocy. So many of them wanted to lure my sister in. Of course I'd never told her that because I knew that she would freak out over it and tell me that I shouldn't have to deal with it. I just let her believe that I was indeed a troublemaker, which I was, and only did stuff like that for the fun of it.

"Really, it's not right. You guys are so close and now you just throw it away?" Damon said.

"We didn't throw anything away. Bella wanted me to leave, so I did," I argued.

"Yes, but she seems to be quite upset with you."

"I can live with that. The only thing I can't live with is another makeout session with Edward."

Damon released a loud laugh at that.

I ignored him and closed my eyes to enjoy the sunshine.

This last week, I had been working really hard on keeping Bella's thoughts out of my head. She and Edward went on their first date, and he really came through on his promise by bringing her to the beach.

Or at least an illusion of it.

He had taken her to one of the school's many meadows and somehow magically turned the whole place into a beach. The spell only lasted for an hour, but Bella loved it anyway.

Ever since that date, the two of them had been inseparable. Some people need three dates before they hit it off, but Bella and Edward were already acting all lovey dovey after only one date.

As far as I saw it, they have officially been a couple for two whole days now.

I was happy for her. I was happy that she finally got what she wanted. But she was just too excited and happy while they madeout, so much so that sometimes it dragged me into her head.

That had been a new development with the bond, and I wasn't sure if Bella had that as well. Whenever she was feeling strongly about something, I'd get pulled into her mind. It was as if I were her in those moments. But unlike her, I didn't find the thought of Edward's tongue being shoved down my throat very appealing.

"You know what, Chris?" I heard Damon's voice.

"Hmm?" I hummed without opening my eyes.

"I'm just gonna take you to your room," he said and somehow managed to get up and throw me over his shoulder before I even had the chance to protest.

"Do you have to go all caveman on me? There are people here, you know that, right? I don't really want to give them the wrong impression," I complained and watched as people turned and giggled at us.

"Since when do you care about what other people think?" he asked.

"Since now."

Damon sighed.

He carried me all the way back to the house and in the direction of my room, ignoring my constant complaints. He stopped and I thought that we had reached my room, but he simply put me down and pushed me through the door in front of me, closing it just as quick.

In my dizzy haze, I thought I saw Edward squeeze himself out the door before it closed.

I was definitely going to kill Damon and Edward.

I was in Bella's room and she was sitting on her bed, staring at me in confusion.

"You better lock your doors tonight and if I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open!" I yelled in the direction of the door as Bella rose from her bed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me.

"That's a good question," I said and started to walk around the room. I sat down on her couch after a while of silence and saw the wooden wand box next to me. I picked it up and absentmindedly opened and closed the lid over and over again.

"Can you stop that?" she huffed in annoyance.

I shook my head and she sighed in return.

"Did you come here to apologize or something?"

"First of all," I started, "I didn't come here. And second, what should I apologize for?"

"First, maybe for always being all over my business-" I cut her off.

"I would call it 'always looking out for you and and taking care of things that could hurt you', so I don't really feel the need to apologize," I commented.

A hint of a smile tugged on the edge of her lips, but she continued anyway. "Second, for yelling at me-"

"I believe you started that."

"And third, for not being around for an entire week. I thought I was going to go crazy. I mean, seriously. I only got to see you in class. The rest of the time, you were never around," Bella rushed out the words.

So apparently she wasn't angry at me. And since I wasn't mad at her, either, I flashed her a bright grin and snapped the box shut for the last time.

It seemed I did that with too much force, though, because a piece of the lid split off.

"And you have to apologize for breaking that," Bella added with a grin on her own face as she walked toward me.

"I'm so so so so sooo sorry," I gushed and got up to grab her in a tight hug.

"I am too," she whispered.

"Ah, no worries. I wasn't even-" I stopped myself when I felt my foot come in contact with something. I looked down and saw that I had stepped on the piece that had broken off of the box.

I bent down and picked it up. It didn't even look like it was broken. It looked more like it was a lid itself. I turned it over and looked at the inside, only to find that there was something inscribed in the wood. The writing was extremely beautiful and looked more like a drawing.

"What is that?" Bella asked as she leaned closer to look at it.

"'And find the clues to solve the mystery'," I read. "'In the end, the light and the dark will be in their hands. A keepsake of old times; a reminder of pure times'."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bella and I mumbled at the same time.

"Do you think there's an explanation in my box?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to look."

I quickly walked to the door, only to find that it was locked.

"Guys, you can either let me out or get my wand box from my room," I called through the door.

"Why?" Damon's slightly muffled voice asked.

"Don't ask, just do," I hissed.

I heard him walk away, and a few seconds later, the door opened and he reached inside to hand it to me. I let the box drop and watched as it's lid also splitted.

"This is so cool," Bella commented and I nodded in agreement.

I read it over really quickly. "This seems to be the beginning," I told Bella, showing her the writing.

"What do you think that means?" she asked.

"I really have no idea," I answered and looked down at both pieces.

_A long lost might, superior to others, sealed away by the bonded ones_

_To be found and unraveled, the bonded ones must return to life and find the clues to solve the mystery_

_In the end, the light and the dark will be in their hands_

_A keepsake of old times; a reminder of pure times_

"Do you also get this weird feeling that it isn't a coincidence that we have it?" Bella asked me.

I looked at her and slowly nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

**_A/N:_ Haha we slowly reach the end...very slowly to be exact there are still going to be a few chapters, but still we're getting there :D So who can guess what this mysterious writing means? And who can guess who Master, Nightmare, Houdini, Shadow and Blossom are? And third question, who can guess who the other guardians are?**

**So many questions and I got the answers, I feel so important right now. Okay I have three good reasons why I need reviews: 1) I have a very important project presentation tomorrow and I need something to distract me**

**2) I only updated for you guys**

**3) My birthday is next week adn I don't know if I will update this week, so it will be the most perfect present:D:D**

**If you think these reasons are not good enough, you should review anyway, because seriously if you read it this far you might as well tell me what you think :P**

**Okay now that's all I gotta say and I hope someone gets the questions right, because I got a FASGS trailer (^^), the school's logo and a preview of the next chapter...isn't that motivating one price for each question, so you might wanna guess, except if you don't care than it really doesn't matter. Now that really was all I gotta say. See you guys next time:D**


	14. Facing Death and Finding Killers

**_A/N:_ Okay, first of all: I'm sorry that it took so long, but seriously this is a loooong chapter, so I hope to make all of you happy. Second: Thanks for all the congrats, now that I'm older and wiser... okay nothing really happened yet. Thirdly: You should all say thank you to **_Babyg14-luvs twilght_

**I was seriously struggling with finishing this chapter, because I didn't know what to write and when to write it and all of that stuff, but my beta was the whole time forcing me to write. At some point I was working so slow that I might as well have gone to ebd and then I got a message telling me I should update, so I sucked it up and finished it.**

**Oh yeah and I'm sorry for not replying to all of your reviewes, I read them all (of course) but never got to answer them...**

**Have fun with the chapter, I'll keep on rambling at the bottom... **

* * *

**Third POV**

As usual, the five people sat inside the dark room. Nightmare had brought back some interesting news to share with Master and the other minions, so they were all seated around the table, preparing to engage in a conference.

"They know," she'd hissed when she entered the room. That had alarmed Master and Houdini, who were the only two in the room at the time, and Master had been quick to declare a meeting. Blossom and Shadow had shown up not long after that.

"So what exactly do they know?" Blossom asked carefully, not having understood what Nightmare had just explained.

"They know about the prophecy!" Nightmare yelled at her heatedly.

Blossom didn't flinch at her outburst, but that was mostly because she wasn't look at the redhead. Instead, she was staring out the window, having thought that she had seen some movement on the campus. But it was way passed curfew by now, so it had to have been a teacher or one of the new security guards.

Blossom shuddered at the thought.

"How can they know about the prophecy? Hardly anyone knows," asked Houdini.

"What prophecy?" Blossom and Shadow asked in unison.

Master ignored them as he sat in his chair, deep in thought. He hadn't said anything throughout Nightmare's entire explanation.

Master took a deep breath. "As far as I know, there are only five people who know of the prophecy's existence. Possibly a few more, since the _others_—" he spat harshly, "—would more than likely confide in at least one person each," Master continued. "But I don't believe Alistair had been one of those few - I doubt he was trusted enough. He couldn't have been a very good Guardian, anyway. Otherwise he'd still be here," Master chuckled darkly and Blossom beamed a smug smile as she rubbed her injured arm.

"Well then how do they know?" Nightmare asked.

"Perhaps one of the other Guardians in the school let them in on the secret. You should check every person they—"

"We already did. I followed them everywhere," Houdini interrupted.

"Was there any suspicious activity?"

"No, Master."

"Well then, maybe Alistair did get it to them. But how?" Master mused.

"I didn't hear them talking about any prophecies," Blossom interfered.

"Then maybe he gave something to them," Nightmare snapped.

Master's eyes wandered to Blossom's face. "Did he give them anything?" he asked smoothly.

"I think he did, but I'm not sure what," she answered.

"Maybe they told Carlisle Cullen what they got," Shadow suggested.

"That would be rather upsetting. The original statement was not passed on to me, so I suppose someone has to break into the IDM's main office," Master said, looking at Houdini.

"I'll be on my way to Italy momentarily," Houdini practically sang as he rose from his chair, only to disappear in front of everybody's eyes.

**Bella POV**

_To be found and unraveled, the bonded ones must return to life._

Those words kept repeating themselves in my head. Over and over again each time I looked at that stupid box.

What was that supposed to mean anyway?

To me, it didn't make sense. The bonded ones had to return to life? Did that mean that Chris and I had to die?

I sighed in frustration, but was quickly distracted by a knock on my door. I already knew who it was, so I skipped to my door and opened it cheerfully.

My smile immediately fell from my face when I saw that it wasn't who I had expected. I had felt Edward's presence, and my gut feeling was never wrong in this particular area, so when I opened the door to see our whole little clique standing in front of my door, I was shocked.

All of them wore party hats, although the guys didn't look too happy about it, and Alice, Rose, and Chris were also each holding a balloon in their hand.

Heart-shaped balloons.

When I opened the door, the first thing I had actually seen was confetti, which Emmett had thrown on me. Despite the fact that he didn't seem to like the hat, he seemed cheerful enough. Dylan and Jasper, on the other hand, looked like they were in the wrong movie.

I started to think that as well, and even Edward's charming crooked smile couldn't help right then.

"Wrong door," I grumbled and attempted to close the door.

Alice stopped me, though, by slamming her tiny self against the door. She was incredibly strong for someone so small.

"I don't think we got the wrong door," she chirped.

"Well I do. I didn't sign up for the circus," I retorted.

"This is not a circus, Bella," Chris said in a voice that made it sound like I was some silly little girl who needed things explained to her. She was smiling her Barbie smile. Well, at least that's what I like to call it.

And it seemed that all of them expected that to be enough of an explanation for me, since they all started shuffling into my room and making themselves comfortable on my cough and bed. All except for Edward. He didn't look too thrilled either. He suddenly stood behind me and snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He gave me a small squeeze on my side, causing me to let out a small squeal since I happened to be very ticklish. At the exact moment I squealed, Alice was in front of us, snapping a picture with her camera.

"Perfect," she exclaimed. "You guys are so cute. One more," and she snapped another picture.

I kind of had the feeling that Edward had tickled me intentionally, but I didn't bother to comment on that. I was more concerned about the pictures in general.

"What's going on, and why do I have the feeling that I won't like?" I asked, sighing. I heard a smooth, velvet chuckle in my ear as Edward bent down to my level, his arm still around my waist.

I didn't mind it. He seemed to have trouble with not touching me, and I enjoyed every electrical brush of skin much more than I should, so I wasn't going to complain.

"We're celebrating one of the most important days in a young relationship," Rose squealed.

"Do I even want to know?" I muttered.

"I don't really think you do," Edward whispered in my ear and I did my best to contain the shiver that went through my body. I didn't think his sweet, warm breath would ever cease to cause reactions like that in me.

"It's your first week as a couple," Chris grinned, and as if on cue - which it probably was - Alice and Rose let out cheers. Dylan, Emmett, and Jasper did too, but with much less enthusiasm. I was glad I wasn't the only one who found this completely ridiculous.

Edward chuckled behind me again. He was not supposed to find this funny. He was supposed to be just as annoyed as I was.

"Wow, I didn't know that this was so important to you guys," I said slowly, my voice slightly confused.

The three girls nodded eagerly.

"And I'm really starting to wonder why you're always getting on my nerves. You didn't think of throwing a party like this when Chris and Damon got together," I continued.

"That's not as interesting. Besides, her boyfriend isn't known for breaking girls' hearts," Alice said while she threw a meaningful glance at Edward.

"That's why we want to document every moment of your relationship before it's over," said Rose.

"We even got you a present," Chris added, pulling a book from behind her back.

"_Signs Your Man Is Lying or Cheating_," the cover read.

Did they honestly find this funny?

"That's not as funny as you think it is, Chris," Edward told her, his chin resting on my shoulder as he frowned.

"Not to you," she retorted.

"Seriously, could it be that you're just bored?" I asked carefully.

"They are," Jasper threw in, earning glares from both Rosalie and Alice.

Chris looked entirely too happy and I started to wonder what that was all about. But even through the bond, I felt nothing but happiness.

"What happened to you, Chris?" I asked carefully.

"Nothing. Why?"

"You're extraordinarily happy."

"She's happy for you," Edward noted. Now Chris' all-too-happy expression changed to a scowl directed at Edward.

"What?" Emmett shouted in disbelief. "Chris has feelings?"

Chris chose to ignore him and instead shot me a quick grin.

"So, are we done with this completely unnecessary party?" I asked Alice.

"No," she smiled innocently as I sighed. "We don't have anything else to do," she added after a minute.

That was true. We had a lot less free-time activity options that we could do since the weather was now exactly how I had originally imagined it to be in Forks.

Constantly raining.

Neither Chris nor I liked that much. The others, however, seemed to be fairly used to it. We all thought about things that we could do with the rest of our weekend. I had no ideas.

"How about we go swimming?" Dylan suggested suddenly.

"Swimming? What for? All I need to do is go outside and I'm already practically drowning," Chris complained.

"The school has a swimming pool," Alice said.

"Is there anything this school _doesn't_ have?" I asked in shock and disbelief.

"Not really. Since we're not allowed to leave campus, pretty much everything is here," Rose said in a disinterested tone.

I sighed. I didn't really want to go swimming, but the idea of Edward in nothing more than swim trunks made me much more enthusiastic about it. Chris grinned knowingly at me and I knew that she knew what I had been thinking about. I blushed a deep red and ignored Edward's questioning glances.

"Well then, we'll go swimming," Alice announced with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

This couldn't be good.

"But we'll have to go shopping for bathing suits first," she grinned. It was innocent enough for a smile, but when it was on Alice and it had to do with shopping, it immediately turned evil in my eyes. And I knew that it would have to do with shopping as soon as Alice got _that_ look on her face. The look that said she was planning something.

Me and Chris, and even Rosalie groaned. But Alice ignored it and somehow managed to pull all of us along. Edward tried to fight her for a moment, but he knew that there was no point and I certainly didn't want to be in the middle of a tug-of-war. So he let go and sent me a sympathetic smile while the evil pixie dragged us with her.

"I expect you boys in 90 minutes by the pool," Alice said to them, continuing to pull us girls while she let the boys go.

"Alice, you can let go now," Chris whined after a few minutes.

Thankfully, Alice let us go. But of course she didn't do that without sending each of us a warning glance first, as if to say we shouldn't bother running.

I shuddered. She was so tiny and cute, but just so evil at the same time.

"Hey, Bella! Where are you going?" I heard a cheery voice. Irina suddenly appeared in front of us and somehow she managed to annoy me more than Alice at that moment.

"We're going shopping!" Alice squealed.

The responding smile Irina gave her was strange. She looked like one of those people who hate children but pretend to love them. Her slightly disgusted expression changed back to her usual smile quickly and she turned to me again.

"Looking for anything special?" she asked.

I heard Chris and Rose let out matching sounds of annoyance and I almost laughed. But I was able to quickly compose myself before it got to that.

"Bathing suits," Alice told her. I began thinking that she was kind of oblivious to whom we were talking, more than likely because she was probably already shopping in her mind. She didn't even look at Irina while she spoke.

"Do you want to join us, Irina?" Chris asked her suddenly in an extremely polite tone.

"Um...no, I think I actually have to go now. Bye," she muttered quickly and rushed away.

"Why is she always after Bella? She acts like a stalker or something," Rose commented when Irina had vanished.

"Maybe she is," Chris smirked. That made the two of them laugh while I simply rolled my eyes.

"Enough talking, not enough walking," Alice said suddenly, strutting away as the rest of us worked to keep up with her.

For someone so tiny with short legs, she was insanely fast.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I am not wearing this, Alice," I protested while looking at myself in the mirror.

She couldn't have chosen something more...impossible for me.

"Oh, come on. I bet it looks adorable on you," Alice said from the other side of the dressing room curtain.

"No, Alice, this is way passed adorable. It's—" I searched my mind for an adequate word, but came up with nothing.

"Does she like it?" I heard Rose's voice ask.

"She's speechless," Alice informed her.

"Show us, Bella," Chris' voice chimed.

I sighed and poked my head out from behind the curtain. I looked around for a second to see if there was anyone else other than the three of them. The only person I saw was the saleswoman who was busily working on a tankini with her wand.

I took a deep breath before stepping out.

"Wow, Bella, you look hot," Chris commented and let out a loud wolf whistle.

"Smokin'," Rose added.

"I knew it would be perfect for you!" Alice sang, seemingly proud of herself.

"This is far too revealing," I argued.

"It's the same as if you were wearing a regular bikini," Chris said.

"Only not," I whined.

I looked at myself in the mirror again and tried to feel comfortable in this...whatever this was. It wouldn't have been to bad if I wasn't the one wearing it. But I was. It was a pretty blue and had stones in a chain connecting the bottom to the top on a diagonal.

"You know, Bella, you should totally wear this to school," Chris remarked as she started rummaging through the pile of swimsuits she held in her arms. I noticed that all of them were white.

"I think that's a bad idea. All the boys would be checking her out and poor Eddie would have to deal with the competition," Rose said to her, adorning a mocking pout. She was also carrying quite a few swimsuits in her arms, I noticed as she vanished behind a curtain after she and Chris shared a good laugh.

"Hurry up, girls, I don't wanna keep Jasper waiting," Alice said and pushed me back behind the curtain of my dressing room so I could change back.

The moment I stepped back out, Rose's curtain was pulled back.

"I think this one is perfect," she announced as she stepped out wearing a red monokini.

She was right. It was perfect for her. It showed off her curves in the most flawlessly perfect way, and the red material suited her better than anyone else I knew.

Alice nodded in approval and Rose was about to turn around to change back when Chris stepped out.

"Nice one," Rose commented before vanishing behind the curtain.

"I've always said I look good in white," Chris mumbled.

"No, you didn't. You've always said you look good in black," I corrected her.

"Well I changed my mind," she retorted as she admired herself in the mirror.

"Why? You hate white."

I'd never heard Chris, in her entire life, say something positive about white swimsuits. Or white clothing in general, aside from t-shirts. Everything else was off of her approval list because she was under the impression that all of it was see-through. Although the color looked incredible with her caramel skin.

"Not anymore," Chris sang and I was pretty sure that the slight blush that appeared on her face was not my imagination. She fumbled a little with the belt that was attached to the bottoms of the bikini, but quickly composed herself and strutted back into her change room.

I could only shrug at the questioning glance I received from Alice.

How would I know why she was so strange?

The answer came to me just a second later and I almost smacked myself in the face because it was so obvious.

Chris didn't respect my mental privacy as much as she should, so why should I?

Most of the time, I closed myself off from the bond and I knew that Chris did too. We weren't able to shut eachother out, but at least we could stay away from the other's emotions.

The passed few weeks, the bond had gotten stronger, although it wasn't as bad for me as it was for Chris. She told me that she gets pulled into my mind occasionally when my emotions are too overwhelming. And that was mostly when I was with Edward.

I slowly reached into her mind and saw that she was still watching herself in the mirror. There was a strange mixture of worry and excitement in her.

_What if he doesn't like it?_ I heard a frantic thought go through her mind. _But he did say I looked good in white. But that was ages ago and back then, he could have been teasing me. Or maybe he wasn't...God, why am I even thinking about this? It's not like I care anyway. Okay, Chris, banish all thoughts of Dylan and try to concentrate on Damon. Hmm...Damon will definitely like this bikini; he likes everything I wear. And I bet he'll look good in his swim shorts. Maybe not as good as Dylan, but— God, I have to get a grip. Breathe in, breathe out._

I almost laughed out loud at Chris' inner voice. So she was a normal teenage girl after all. Of course I had already known that, but it was still nice to hear that she freaked out over things like that, too. The only thing that really disturbed me was that even in her thoughts she was trying to make it seemed as if she cared more for Damon than she did Dylan.

There must be someway to get her to see the light.

Beside me, Alice made a sound of enlightenment.

I pulled my thoughts back into my own mind and left Chris alone with her breathing session. Alice was jumping up and down in excitement as she looked at me.

"What?" I asked her cautiously, already well aware that whatever she was thinking of, it involved me.

"I just had a vision," she whisper-yelled.

I made a hand gesture for her to elaborate.

"You're planning on setting Chris and Dylan up."

I frowned at that. Sure I was thinking about it, but I hadn't even come up with a plan yet. Although it was the direction my thoughts had been heading.

Well, maybe Alice wasn't such a bad psychic after all.

I smiled to myself as I thought of Chris and Dylan being a happy couple.

"And you fail. Miserably," Alice added in a whisper, making the smile fall from my face. "And destroy the images of Chris and Dylan sharing a milkshake."

I glared at Alice for ruining that for me.

Rose stepped out, fully dressed again with her chosen swimsuit draped over her arm. "What are you two whispering about?" she asked as she came closer.

"I had a vision of Bella trying to set her sister and Dylan up and failing in the process because Chris saw right through you," she said, turning to me while speaking.

"Does that mean...?" Rose asked, not bothering to finish her question as Alice was already nodding enthusiastically. "Nice," Rose cheered, giving Alice a smack on the butt. Sometimes I wondered if I could have chosen more normal friends.

"Does anyone care to tell me what you guys are talking about?" I asked them, looking back and forth between the two.

"In my vision, you failed to get them together because you tried to do it on your own. So basically, all we have to do to make these two idiots get together is help you set them up," Alice told me, quiet enough not to alarm Chris.

"Why do I have the feeling that this isn't going to end well either?"

"It is. Just trust us. We're in this together," Rose reassured me.

I supressed the memories of _High School Musical_ that came to mind when she finished speaking.

"Okay guys, we can go now," Chris' voice called before she waltzed out from behind the curtain a moment later.

"Let's go pay," Alice said in her constantly overly cheery voice.

"Did you even get a swimsuit, Alice?" Rose asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She was right to question that. I didn't see Alice try anything on at all. She had been running around, throwing things at me, the whole the time.

Alice held up a paper bag. "I already bought mine," she answered.

"When did you do that?" Chris asked in confusion.

"When Bella was changing and you guys were still looking for something to wear, of course. Did you really think I'd take all of you shopping and not get something for myself in the process?" she asked, her voice making it sound like the most preposterous thing in the world.

Which is sort of was.

Ten minutes later, we were all walking through the streets on campus, hurrying through the rain. We came to a building that looked just like every other ordinary public swimming pool.

When we walked in, we saw the guys enter the men's change room.

The pool was free, since a lot of people would just use their powers to get in if they charged, so all we had to do was sign our names on a sheet. That was only because they needed to know who had been in the pool, in case it ends up a huge mess in there. After that, Alice pulled us all into the women's change room.

"You better hurry up. I wanna show Jazzy my new swimsuit," Alice clucked her tongue once before she hurriedly started changing. She was done so fast that I didn't even get to see her suit before she had already dashed out of the room.

Rose was changed and after her only a few minutes later.

"Hurry up, Bells," Chris whined, sitting on the bench and playing with the belt of her bikini. Through the bond, I felt that she was anxious to get to the boys. Or rather, Dylan.

"I'm done," I announced finally, releasing a huge gust of air from my lungs.

Chris quirked an eyebrow at me and stepped closer to fluff my hair. "Now you're done."

We walked out, into the giant swimming hall and I noticed that we were the only ones in there. The others were sitting on a bench on the otherside of the pool, so we had to walk around it to get to them.

As we came closer, I saw Alice perched on Jasper's lap, looking perfectly content.

Of course she was.

"Why do you get to wear a decent swimsuit and I get _this?_" I screeched, making all of them aware of our presence.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward's jaw drop, so I stopped myself from further screeching. I hadn't actually been done with it, but when I looked at Edward's shocked yet awed expression, I was pretty sure it was because he liked what he saw.

"That's why," Alice answered sounding amused.

"You look...nice, Bella," Edward choked as he dragged his eyes to mine. I heard the giggles and chuckles from the others and couldn't help but join them.

Emmett stood next to Edward and hit him on the back. "No inappropriate thoughts, Eddie. This is hardly the place to be thinking about Bella naked. Even if she is already practically naked," he let out a boisterous laugh.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Why did he have to be so annoying?

Somebody should just dump him in the pool.

I looked at the smooth blue water and grinned to myself at the thought of Emmett being thrown in there.

As I looked at the water, it started to move. Nobody aside from me noticed since all of them were listening to Emmett's teasing comments.

Maybe I could dump him in the pool...or let the pool drag him in.

The thought came to me with another evil smile and I saw the water reacting in the same second. Now the others noticed it as well, mainly because the waves were hard to explain. I could feel their gazes on me, but nobody had time to say anything before the water started spilling over the edge. It slowly crawled to where Emmett was standing, and then wandered up his legs.

I saw that he was trying to phase himself out of it, but it was already at his waist.

A quick movement of my hand was all it took to drag Emmett into the pool.

There was a big splash and I released the hold on Emmett immediately, not wanting him to drown.

A few seconds later, his head appeared on the surface.

"Isabella Swan," he gasped. "You'll pay for that!" He started dragging himself out of the pool.

We all laughed at his expression. Rose sauntered toward him and pushed on his chest, effectively slamming him back into the water, before she jumped in herself.

"Come on, Jazzy, I wanna play chicken with Emmett and Rose," Alice shouted and dragged Jasper toward the pool. He didn't look like he minded much and went along.

The two of them were probably the strangest couple I've ever known.

"What? I wanna play too!" Chris called after them.

"Then find yourself a partner," Alice told her and grinned. I suppressed a smile of my own and grabbed Edward's hand to pull him to the deck chairs.

"Don't you want to play with the others?" Edward asked me, looking back at Rose and Alice who were trying to throw each other off of Emmett and Jasper's shoulders.

"I've never really cared much for that game. We can wait until they come up with a better one to beat them," I told him with a grin.

He blinked a couple of times and then smiled his crooked smile at me before scooping me into his arms.

I let out an Alice worthy squeal while he continued to strode toward the deck chairs.

"You know, I am quite capable of walking on my own," I complained after the surprise had worn off.

"Yeah, I know, but you wouldn't deny me the chance to carry around the most beautiful girl in the world, would you?" Edward replied while he settled down on a deck chair and sat me between his legs, leaning against his chest.

I rolled my eyes at him and shook my hair. Edward simply let out a quiet chuckle in response.

For several minutes, we sat in comfortable silence and watched the others throw each other into the water. Chris had paired up with Dylan, of course, and seemed to be winning the game. She didn't look like she had a single drop on her.

"You know what? I think it would be interesting to see you swim," Edward mumbled, breaking the silence. He was playing absentmindedly with my hair - something he had done quite often in the passed week.

I turned my head slightly to quirk an eyebrow at him in question.

"You have a connection with water, don't you? I was imagining you becoming one with the water," he explained.

"Interesting thought, but I'm not sure that would be such a good thing," I told him.

"Why not?"

"Because it sounds kind of strange, and with all of you jumping around in that pool..."

Edward shuddered slightly and I guessed he'd realized what I had been talking about. "Well, then I'll just have to keep you outside the water and all to myself," he murmured, nuzzling my hair while he ran his hand over my arm lightly, leaving goosebumps in it's wake.

My breath caught and I didn't dare to move. This seemed way too good to be true.

Edward's hand found it's way to my exposed stomach and he started idly tracing patterns on it.

Yep, definitely a dream.

"I don't think so," Edward whispered in my ear. "Even in my dreams, you never looked this good in a swimsuit."

I was sure that I would have fainted if there hadn't been a sudden sensation that pulled my thoughts in a completely different direction.

I felt like somebody was watching us.

I jerked my head up and started to scan the hall, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked. He sounded worried and I guessed that he wasn't able to read my mind anymore.

"I'm not sure..." I answered slowly.

I saw that Chris had also frozen in her movements, which wasn't exactly a good thing because Rose took the chance to throw her into the water.

The strange feeling faded and left me sitting with a frown on my face.

"Everything okay?" Edward asked, his voice laced with concern.

I was about to nod when I realized that Chris hadn't resurfaced yet. It hadn't been long enough to make me worried, but through the bond, I felt that Chris was struggling.

I jumped up and jogged toward the pool where the others were looking around, searching for Chris. I caught sight of her black hair first and immediately dove into the water.

I tried to ignore the overwhelming feeling of power and concentrated on getting to Chris instead. It took me a mere second, which seemed kind of impossible to me. I reached for her, but the second I touched her skin, there was this strange flash of pain. It was like the one I had felt on our first day of school.

But Chris wasn't moving and I had to get her out of there. I felt my lungs start to struggle for oxygen, so I suppressed the urge to surface to air and reached for her again, ignoring the burning pain in my hand as I dragged her to the surface with me.

As soon as my head was out of the water, I started to gasp for air. Edward was by my side instantly and started to pull me out of the water.

"Chris," I managed to choke out in between my desperate breaths.

"I got her," Dylan assured me.

Somehow Edward had maneuvered me on the edge of the pool, and Chris was laying next to me, both of our legs still dangling in the water. On her right arm, I saw a strange mark. It was dark grey and looked like a handprint.

My handprint.

I looked down to my left hand, which I had used to grab Chris. It was still throbbing painfully and now I could see the burn mark covering my palm.

Edward had been watching me and caught my hand. "What happened?" he demanded, looking at the burn.

I looked back at Chris, who was still laying motionless, then flicked my eyes back to my hand and shrugged in reply to Edward's question.

"We should get them to the hospital," Jasper suggested calmly.

I looked up at him and saw Rosalie and Alice standing beside him. Rose wore a guilty expression as she looked at the still unconscious Chris.

"It's not your fault, Rose," I told her gently.

Her eyes darted to me and she offered a tiny smile. It vanished instantly, though, when her gaze swept over my injured hand that was still being held by Edward.

He was murmuring things I didn't understand, but judging by the look of concentration on his face, I figured he was trying to heal it.

It wasn't working, so I pulled my hand away from him, ignoring his protests. I looked down at my burn mark again. What happened inside the water?

I glanced quickly at the water. It was smooth and unmoving again. That is, _until_ I looked at it.

Small waves started building on the surface and I felt mesmerized and unable to look away.

"Let's go then," I heard Dylan's voice say. I caught a motion in the corner of my eye. It looked like he had picked up Chris.

The movement of her legs being pulled out of the water erupted a few more waves. All of them were moving toward me and I started to hear it whisper to me.

The water inside of me started to move as well, and it's whispers began murmuring to me.

_Heal. Heal fast,_ the water whispered in different tenors. It kept repeating until it sounded like a chant to me and I lost myself in it.

The water connected with me and filled every cell of my body. A pleasant chill went through me and for a second, I felt like I was disconnected from the world.

A moment later, I was back in reality.

"Bella!" I heard Edward's voice close to my ear, sounding surprised.

I turned to look at him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at my injured palm that I'd been holding out in front of me.

Only now it wasn't injured.

The last thing I saw was a few drops of water sinking into my skin.

"What did you do?" Edward asked me breathlessly.

"I don't know," I answered him truthfully. I was just beginning to come out of my daze and I wasn't too sure about what had happened.

Everyone was looking at me in awe but I wasn't focused on that.

My eyes were on Chris, who was now laying in Dylan's arms, still unmoving.

Now that the pain was gone, I realized something that had escaped my notice before.

There was nothing coming from Chris. No emotion, no thoughts. I tried to reach to her through the bond, but it seemed like the bond was cut off.

That scared me. I quickly jumped to my feet and to Dylan's side.

I grabbed Chris' wrist and searched for a pulse. There was a faint heartbeat, but it was almost impossible to feel.

Dylan looked down at her in concern, water dripping from his hair onto her chest.

"She's dying," I choked out, making his head snap to me instead.

It only took him one second before he was suddenly vanished from the spot in front of me.

A moment later, I finally began to comprehend what I'd said.

"She's dying!" I yelled. "I need to get to her now!"

Edward stilled my frantic hand motions by sweeping me into his arms.

"We're at our parents house," he called over his shoulder before he dashed away with me still laying in his arms.

About a minute later, he burst through a door and stopped in the middle of a light living room. I knew this room. We'd been here before, but I couldn't pay attention to that now.

Chris was laying on the couch again while Carlisle hovered over her, checking her heartbeat.

"Just do something!" I yelled at him, tears starting to blur my vision. I felt how the bond slowly started to dissolve and knew that when it was gone, there was no way that Chris would come back.

"There's nothing I can do. Her heartbeat is stabilizing on it's own, and there is nothing else that seems to be wrong with her," Carlisle informed me calmly.

Esme rushed into the room with towels in her hand. She handed one to Dylan, who I hadn't even really realized was sitting in the arm chair closest to Chris, watching her intently.

I let Carlisle's words go through my mind again. Her heartbeat was stabilizing on it's own?

But then why was the bond dissolving?

"Carlisle she is not fine. The bond is vanishing!" I cried.

Carlisle seemed to get that this was something to worry about, and leaned over her again. Then he turned back to me with a frown on his face.

"She is fine, Bella. Really. She's breathing almost normally again—" his eyes stopped at the handprint on her arm. "What is that?" he asked me.

"I think I might have done that. Oh no! I killed my own sister!" I was far beyond the line of sanity by now. I hadn't even realized that I was pacing around frantically until Edward's arm wrapped around me, pulling me close to his chest.

"Shh, Bella. Chris is going to be alright. You need to calm down," he said in a soft, soothing voice.

It helped a little, but not enough. In my mind, I was already going through different scenarios. I was coming up with different ways to commit suicide in case Chris died. The bond grew weaker again, making me - if it was possible - even more hysteric.

And suddenly, I felt calm. So much so that I was almost numb.

"She's going to be alright, Bella," Alice's voice reassured me. She was standing beside me and Edward with Jasper by her side. The sudden calm had obviously come from him, and it seemed to effect everyone in the room.

Esme, who had started to towel dry Chris, was slowing her motions, and Carlisle was no longer looked back and forth between us in worry. Dylan's pose on the arm chair relaxed, but the most surprising was Chris.

She let out a sigh, which I answered with a sigh of my own.

"It looks like it is dehydrated," Carlisle said. He had turned his attention to Chris' arm again.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked before anyone else had the chance.

"It's a dry spot. It's as if all of the water has been sucked out of the skin."

Everyone turned to look at me.

"Shh, Bella. It's okay. Try to breathe normally," Edward said, stroking my head in a soothing manner. I hadn't even realized that I was hyperventilating. I stopped breathing instantly, though, when I was hit with the full force of the bond.

It had been completely gone moments before, but now, it had reappeared so abruptly that my heart almost stopped.

A thousand emotions ran through it so quickly that I couldn't even pick up any of them. I realized that they were all coming from Chris and I let out a sigh of relief.

She stirred with a frown on her face and then a tiny flame appeared on her arm in the exact spot I had injured her. The whole handprint started burning up, and then the flames were suddenly gone, leaving her skin completely spotless and uninjured.

"Wow," I breathed.

"This is too much for one day," I heard Rose whisper. She leaned into Emmett's side and took deep breaths.

Meanwhile Chris opened her eyes and looked directly at me.

**Chris POV**

The sudden realization that we were being watched caught me off guard. Our little game had me worked up already, but the sudden feeling only made the force of flames inside me rise. I really needed to learn how to control this better. I only had a second to scan the room, to search for the source of this strange feeling. But I didn't see anyone. A quick glance at Bella told me that she had felt the same thing.

But before I could react anymore, Rose had decided to take advantage of my hesitation and threw me inside the water. The second I came in contact with the water, my whole body went into protest mode. I hadn't managed to push the flames back to where they usually were, so I wasn't exactly compatible with water in that moment.

The burning inside of me got stronger, almost painfully so, and I could hear the angry hisses of the fire inside my head. It was trying to get out and fight against the water. I knew that this was an instinct that I couldn't control, but it was a very stupid one.

I fought for control over the fire, but there was nothing I could do. Slowly I felt how my body was defeated and the flames inside of me started to quench. I barely even felt the hand that gripped my arms. One last time, the fire inside me burned up before it started to fade completely.

Panic rose inside of me. I knew that it was not good when the last flame died. Apparently this was known to my body as well.

I couldn't exactly explain the workings of my body in that moment. All I knew was that these instincts were not the natural ones of a human being.

We reached the surface and the last thing I really registered was taking a deep breath before everything shut down.

I felt like I was trapped. There was no feeling, no sensations. I couldn't see and I could hardly hear. Mentally, I was there, and I could vaguely hear what was going on around me, but I couldn't make myself react in any way.

There was nothing happening in my mind. I couldn't think of anything specific, and I couldn't do anything, either. I felt absolutely nothing.

But then it was there. A tiny flame deep down inside of me was trying to regenerate itself. That was the only thing my mind was focused on. But the flame was having trouble, so my mind allowed me to expand a little bit further. I could feel my body for one short moment before the feeling was gone.

It wasn't long enough for me to find out what was wrong. All of the other workings in my body that hadn't shut down, however, had realized what the problem was. Something with my legs, was all I could gather before my mind faded into total blackness.

Again, I felt the presence of that single flame inside me, trying to reach out and start me up again. It seemed like the previous problem had been solved only to be replaced by another one. One much worse than the one before. I felt it and my heart slowed down.

Something cold was on my chest and the small flame went off on it's own before it could be quenched.

And again, I was surrounded by blackness.

It seemed like an eternity before I felt the flame start flickering inside me again. This time, I felt nothing interfering. Very slowly, the fire spread inside my body and awakened different nerves.

The first I got back was my hearing.

I could hear a voice that I knew I had heard hundreds of times before, but I couldn't place who it belonged to.

The voice sounded different. Not at all how it was supposed to sound. But I couldn't think of any reasons for it to be so wrong.

Every now and then I heard other voices as well, but I didn't listen to any of them.

The next thing that reawakened were my other senses. I felt my body again and I could breathe evenly. I felt something unpleasant on my left arm, but my mind wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

Slowly, I felt myself return to normal. A sudden feeling of calmness settled over me and I knew that my mind was now working at it's full potential again.

The feeling in my arm was pain, but before I could elaborate anymore on that, I felt the flames inside me reach out to that spot and fix whatever was causing the pain.

Now I was perfectly normal again. There was nothing left to do, so I opened my eyes.

I looked straight into the chocolate brown eyes that had soothed me so many times before, only to find that this time, it was not enough.

I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath before I sat up. There was a sudden movement by my side and a warm hand on my back.

"I don't think you should move," I heard Dylan's voice advise. The comfort I had been seeking was right there in his voice.

I sighed in frustration and slumped back into the couch.

"Chris, are you okay?" Bella's wavering voice sounded as if she were about to cry as she knelt down beside me.

"I'm fine," I assured and grinned at her like I always did.

"How are you feeling, Chris?" Carlisle asked me gently as he inspected my arm.

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"No nausea, headaches, pain?" he questioned.

I shook my head. I felt as well as usual, but something inside me longed for Dylan's touch again. I supressed that feeling but I thought I saw a tiny smile on Bella's face for a moment.

"Well, that was officially the strangest thing I have ever experienced. Does anyone care to explain?" Esme interfered.

"Chris drowned," Emmett answered right away.

"I did not drown, you big idiot," I hissed at him.

He rolled his eyes as if to say that I was overreacting.

"I'm so sorry, Chris, I shouldn't have pushed you in. It's all my fault," Rose cried as she came rushing to my side.

This time, I sat all the way up despite the protests that came from Dylan.

"It's no your fault. It's my own fault, really. I need to get a grip on these stupid powers," I told her.

"Your powers?" Alice and Jasper asked at the same time.

"What does that have to do with your powers? You fell inside the water and stopped breathing," Edward noted.

"I wasn't in control of my powers when I fell inside the water," I clarified.

Bella made a sound of understanding, probably because she was hearing the whole thing in my head, and it seemed like Carlisle understood as well.

"Of course. Fire and water are by far the least compatible things on Earth," he mused.

"Shouldn't stuff like this happen every time you two touch, then?" Emmett questioned.

"We're not using the elements the whole time, though, Emmett," Bella answered.

"So if you are both using it and you touch...what happens?" Jasper asked, though he sounded more like he was talking to himself.

I thought about it for a moment. Bella already seemed to know the answer, and a second later, I knew it too.

"That is interesting," I mumbled after I had seen the answer inside her head.

"What is?" Alice asked impatiently.

"We already had this kind of reaction, but the contact wasn't long enough to actually do anything," Bella explained to me and I nodded understandingly.

"What are you talking about?" Alice whined.

"The burn on my hand and the dry spot on her arm," Bella said. "That's what happens."

"What? But that means—" Edward started, but stopped himself.

"The two of us could kill each other. Quite effectively so," I finished for him while looking absentmindedly at my arm.

Everyone seemed to take in a sharp breath and I saw Edward's hand twitch toward Bella as if he wanted to pull her away from me.

"Well, then you know you shouldn't hug when you're currently playing around with your powers," Emmett threw in.

"I guess not," I agreed thoughtfully.

"Well, there's no need to be so melancholic. Since you are already here, you might as well stay for dinner," Esme smiled warmly at us.

"Dinner!" Emmett and Dylan screamed enthusiastically with huge grins on their faces.

"Boys, settle down," Carlisle chastised with an amused smile. "Esme hasn't cooked anything yet."

"I will need some help with that," Esme said, looking at each of us.

"I'll show Chris around the house," Dylan shouted immediately.

I looked at him in horror and was about to open my mouth to offer my help in the kitchen when Alice interfered.

"I'll help you in the kitchen, Mom," she said.

"Um, no offense, sweetie, but you know what happens when I let you in the kitchen," Esme said with a slightly horrified expression.

I could only imagine what the pixie had done in the kitchen.

I started to open my mouth again, but this time, Rose interrupted.

"Bella and I can help," she offered. Bella nodded and when I attempted to speak again, Rose added, "and Edward."

"Okay, then we have enough helpers. The rest of you can just try not to break anything," Esme looked at Emmett while saying that.

"We'll be in your room, Edward, playing PlayStation," Emmett announced as he and Jasper raced upstairs.

Edward didn't look like he liked that idea much, but he didn't protest after he cast a look at Dylan, who was standing behind me.

"Come on, I'll show you my room," Dylan told me and tugged gently on my hand.

I ignored the curious glance Carlisle gave me and followed him reluctantly.

The fluttering in my tummy didn't help matters.

Not even my body seemed to want to cooperate in my whole Stick to Damon plan, which I found highly frustrating.

We went up the stairs and Dylan pointed at the door to our left at the end of the corridor, which was just closing.

"That's Edward room," Dylan told me. "The room in front of us is Mom and Dad's study, next to that is their bedroom, opposite of Alice's bedroom," he quickly pointed at each door until we stopped at the other end of the corridor. "And this is my room," he announced happily, opening the door.

It was much cleaner than I would have expected, but that could be because he wasn't even living in the room.

"Why do you have rooms here when you live in the dorms?" I asked as I inspected the TV in the corner of his room. The shelf contained so many DVDs that I had to wonder if this was illegal. On the other side was a king-sized bed with black and white sheets on it.

Above the wall was a huge painting of his family standing on the beach. It was in black and white, but that made it all the more beautiful.

"We used to live here before we went to school, and I lived here until high school. Edward moved into the dorms a year later, and then Alice," he answered my question.

"Who painted that?" I asked as soon as he was finished talking.

The picture showed Esme in Carlisle's arms as they watched Alice and Edward splash eachother with water. They all looked a few years younger in the painting. Edward looked like he was thirteen and Alice was so tiny that it was hard to decide, but I guessed that she must have been about eleven then.

"I did. Years ago," Dylan answered. His voice sounded a bit off. I turned to look at him and saw that he was shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"It's beautiful," I told him and smiled when he looked up at me in surprise. "I didn't know you could paint."

"There are quite a few things that you don't know," Dylan said, his voice husky.

I rolled my eyes at him and turned my back to him again.

He caught my wrist and spun me around. "You really scared me today," his voice was so quiet, it was hardly even a whisper. The sudden intensity of his expression caught me off guard and my stupid heart had nothing better to do than start racing.

"I'm sorry," I replied at the same volume.

A smile played on his lips and he started to lean in. I knew that he was going to kiss me again.

Panic rose inside of me. I knew that once he kissed me, I would lose my free will.

He leaned closer and I could already smell his aloe and apple blossom scent when I flared up for a second. The sudden heat rush made Dylan let go of me and take a step back.

That had not been my intention.

"I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" I gushed right away, taking both of his hands to see if I had done any damage.

"No, I'm fine," he mumbled.

I looked up at him as he gazed down at me, his hair hanging down in his face.

I sighed. "I can't kiss you," I told him.

He didn't answer.

"It's just not right, you know. I'm still with Damon and I—"

"Why are you still with Damon?" he asked me calmly, not taking his penetrating eyes off of my face.

I looked at him with wide eyes. "I don't know," I answered truthfully, unable to lie to him at that moment. His blue eyes seemed to be looking right through me and that thought made me shiver.

"I really want you to be with me instead," his voice was almost pleading as he spoke. He closed his eyes for a moment.

The second his eyes released me, I was free to think again.

"Well, I can't be with you," I told him and looked down at him.

Dylan was now sitting on his bed, looking up at me. "Why not?"

"I don't think you know what you're talking about."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you are saying you want to be with me now, but you'll just toss me aside like every other girl a few weeks later."

"How could you think of me like that?" I could see he was starting to get worked up when he stood up and stepped closer to me.

"How could I not?"

"I'm not as bad as you seem to think I am. I care about you. It's _you_ who doesn't care."

"Well, I'm sorry if I don't want to be hurt."

"Who said that I was intending to hurt you?"

"I did."

"Well, you're wrong."

"Prove it to me," I said intensely as I looked deep into his eyes.

I hadn't even realized until then how close we had gotten again. I was standing on my tippy toes so I could get closer to his face and his neck was craned down a little.

It had obviously been a bad idea for me to get worked up enough to get that close to him because it took him only one move to pull me in for a kiss.

That incredibly overwhelming feeling started running through me once again as I started to lift my hands, intending to bury them in his hair.

"Guys, dinner is—"

That interruption was all it took for me to push Dylan away and turn to the door where Emmett was standing, looking at the two of us in shock.

A second later, he was out of his shocked stupor and he let out a booming laugh. "I said I would be there!" he said as he laughed and pointed at us.

I wasn't even the slightest bit amused, so I pushed passed Emmett and stormed out of the room as fast as I could.

I heard Emmett congratulating Dylan as I rushed down the stairs.

"Well, don't you look pissed," Rose commented the second I entered the Cullens brightly lit dining room.

"Why is dinner already done?" I asked.

"A little magic," came Esme's gentle reply.

I frowned. I wished they had taken more time to do that.

We seated ourselves at the table moments before Dylan and Emmett strolled down the stairs and joined us as well. I made sure to sit between Jasper and Rose, and Bella sat across from me, which was oddly lucky for me, since I really didn't want Dylan near me.

Carlisle, who had seated himself at the head of the table, started to talk to me and Bella while Esme was busily filling our plates with spaghetti.

"I really must say that you scared me today, Chris. Seeing the levels that your powers reached is not exactly a comforting thought, either. I would've never thought that two regulars borns could be so...extraordinary," Carlisle said, looking between Bella and me, his eyes filled with interest and worry. "I called Laurent a few minutes ago to ask if he could arrange some extra sessions with the two of you—" he started.

"What? Private lessons? With Napoleon?" I shouted, not even bothering to let him finish.

"Napoleon?" everyone questioned in confusion.

All except Bella. She simply sighed and shook her head, then leaned toward Edward to whisper an explanation for the name in his ear. He groaned and concentrated on staring at his plate.

"Why did you call him Napoleon?" Dylan asked curiously.

At that exact second, an idea hit me. I was going to ignore Dylan until he gave me enough proof to show me that he did indeed care for me. Then maybe I'd consider breaking up with Damon. I smiled cruelly to myself.

Everyone was looking at me, waiting for an answer, but I was happily shovling forkful after forkful of spaghetti in my mouth.

Edward sighed. "She calls him Napoleon because she couldn't come up with any better nickname that is somehow associated with France."

Emmett laughed loudly at that.

Of course he did.

"Okay," Carlisle said slowly. "As I was saying, I called Laurent, but unfortunately I couldn't reach him. It seems he is gone once again."

"Another one of those tracking trips? Isn't that a bit senseless after he found the twins?" Jasper asked.

"Not necessarily. It actually makes sense to look more thoroughly now rather than before. He may find more regular borns, but I've heard that he isn't even on a tracking trip. From what I've gathered, he has some family issues that he needs to deal with. I think it was a funeral or something along those lines," Carlisle answered thoughtfully.

"Laurent has a family?" Alice asked in surprise. She wasn't the only one who looked like that.

"Of course he does, Alice. He is a human being after all. I don't believe he hatched from an egg," Esme said gently.

"Yeah, but he seems so..." she started, but was at a loss for words.

"Anti-social," Rosalie tried for her. She nodded approvingly at Rose's choice of words.

"But he is seriously badass," Emmett added.

"I like him," Bella said with one of her sweet smiles.

"Which is kind of wrong, Bella," I told her. "He's weird and annoying."

"You only find him annoying because he refuses to put up with your crap."

I shrugged. What else could I do? It wasn't like she was lying. That actually was the truth, after all, so there was really no point in denying it. At least not now.

"What I actually wanted to tell you was that you should speak to Laurent when he gets back. He should be able to help you with your powers," Carlisle said, getting back to the topic at hand.

Bella and I simply nodded.

Then I remembered something else that he'd said.

"Um, Carlisle," I said. "What did you mean by 'tracking trip'?"

"Well, Laurent doesn't only sense and analyze other gifts; he can also track them. That is why Aro has sent him out a couple of times already - so that he could search for new talents. Of course he didn't find anyone, since regular born witches don't appear very often, but the work paid off, as you can see. Without him, you wouldn't be here."

"So he just travelled around hoping to find someone like us?" I asked in disbelief. To me, it sounded like a waste of time. A lot of time.

Carlisle simply nodded.

"How long has he been doing that already?" Bella questioned.

Esme smiled gently and said, "Ever since he started teaching here. It should be about five years now."

"Who do we have classes with if Laurent isn't there?" Rose suddenly threw in.

"With Ms. Carmina. At least for the Specialized Magic classes. You'll have a free period during French," Carlisle answered and watch with a small satisfied smile as Bella, Rose, Jasper, and I all cheered excitedly for a moment.

"Wait," Alice suddenly interrupted. "We'll have classes with a demon? Daddy, I don't want to."

"Alice, she isn't going to eat you. She'll be very nice, I promise. You'll like her."

"Why is it such a big deal that she's a demon anyway?" Bella asked Carlisle.

"They live somewhere in the darkness down in Hell," Emmett answered, trying to make himself sound like a horror movie narrator.

"I heard that they suck blood," Rose added in a stage-whisper, her voice much like Emmett's had been.

I quirked an eyebrow at them as Rose and Emmett started laughing like crazy. Yep, I never thought it was possible, but apparently Rose was just as goofy as Emmett. Well that certainly explained why they got along so well.

Alice's eyes suddenly became unfocused with a sort of glazed over look. Esme, who was sitting in front of her, frowned slightly and reached forward to touch her hand.

"I thought I told you not to use your gift at the table," she scolded in a tone much too gentle to be actual scolding.

"You said that Edward and Dylan couldn't use their gifts at the table," Alice countered with a pout.

"Don't think that rule doesn't apply to you too."

Alice sighed. "How long until this wears off?" she asked and cast a pointed look at the hand Esme had just touched.

"I didn't put much force into it, so you should be able to see again in about an hour."

"An hour?" both Dylan and Edward exclaimed in outrage.

I looked back and forth between all of them with raised eyebrows.

"You always took our powers away for much longer than that!" Dylan whined.

"Yeah. Once, I wasn't able to use my powers for an entire week," Edward added.

"That's because the two of you were very troublesome," Esme explained with a shrug.

Looking at Bella and seeing the confused look on her face immediately told me that I'd have the exact look on my face too.

"Power negation," Jasper explained as he took a bite of food. He looked up briefly to find us still confused and elaborated on his explanation, "The ability to cancel the powers of others."

"Ahh," Bella and I exhaled in unison as we nodded our heads in understanding.

"Could we get back to the current topic? I wasn't done with recounting rumors about demons," Emmett complained, clearly not pleased that he had been interrupted.

"You really shouldn't listen to these rumors. Demons aren't classified as evil creatures. Well, not exactly," Carlisle told him with a serious expression on his face.

"What does that mean?" both Bella and I asked.

"Demons are more or less human, just like witches are—"

"Witches aren't human?" I asked incredulously, staring at my hands in horror as if I were waiting for a sixth finger to grow.

"I'm not quite sure about you and Bella, since your parents are both human, but the rest of us aren't. Genetically we can't be classified as normal human beings due to the magical genes. Witches have 26 chromosomes, therefore we are not human. We're also able to grow much older than the average human being. The oldest witch on record had been 369 years old."

"So you're something close to immortal?" Bella asked with wide eyes.

"No, definitely not. Immortality allows the person to live forever, mostly without aging. We do age, the only difference is that we can withstand more years than humans, thus, we live longer. The average age for a witch is 150."

"It is possible to kill a witch, right?" I asked carefully. Everyone rose their eyebrows at me but I just shrugged and paid no attention to that.

"Well, technically it's possible," Carlisle started. "It's merely a bit harder, since there are all kinds of spells to prevent that."

"What are the differences between witches and demons, then?"

"Demons are even less human than we are. They have a more animalistic side, and they're also incapable of wielding or using magic."

"Then why are we getting a demon as a teacher?" Edward asked.

"Because she's gifted. Demons aren't capable of using what we call magic, but many of them do have gifts."

"Many of them? Does that mean that some demons can do nothing at all? How pathetic," Rose said with her nose wrinkled.

"Oh no, that's hardly the case," Carlisle backtracked. "From what I've heard, demons do have supernatural abilities. All of them are capable of using some kind of energetic force, but not all of them are powerful enough to actually have gifts like ours. Also, they're much more in touch with their animal spirits. As a matter of fact, this particular branch of magic is originally from them," Carlisle looked at each of us while speaking.

"Not this whole animal spirit thing again," I muttered with a sigh.

"Do you know what your animal spirit is?" Bella asked Carlisle with interest in her voice and eyes.

"No, I've never been able to connect with it at all. It's quite a common thing among us witches, though."

"And where do demons live? Isn't it be kind of conspicuous when they start sniffing around and stuff?" I asked.

"Well, in that particular case, Emmett was somewhat right. They do live below the Earth, but—"

"Seriously? Hell is real?" Emmett shouted.

"I was getting to that," Carlisle settled him down. "It's not really Hell — I'm not exactly sure what it is. Perhaps you should ask Ms. Carmina, because I honestly don't know anymore about demons."

"Why do you know this much anyway?" Edward asked. Carlisle grinned while he tapped the side of his head. Edward rolled his eyes as if Carlisle had just told him something obvious. Which he probably had, after all Edward was a mind reader.

Sometimes, I had the tendency to forget that he could read minds, which wasn't exactly a good thing, since my shield wasn't nearly as steady as Bella's, and since I was hardly paying attention, Edward could easily enter my mind at any given moment and find out things like the other Dylan fiasco. For some reason, I wanted it to be a secret. Oh yeah, thinking about secrets, there was also—

I let the thought go as I felt this strange force in my head again. Now that I was focusing on it, I could just shut him out, so I let my shield slam down instantly. Edward hadn't even been paying attention; he and Bella were having a quiet conversation, smiling goofily at eachother as only a fresh couple could. But by slamming down on my shield like I had, his attention was immediately drawn to me. He jumped slightly and looked straight at me, seeming to be thinking for a moment before his expression turned into a grin, and then morphed into an evil grin. He leaned down to Bella and whispered something in her ear. She turned to look at me with what looked like a smug smile.

"Don't even think about mind communicating with me. I know that you'll let Edward hear it," I warned her.

Bella looked at me in surprise before she threw back her head and let out a laugh. Edward chuckled along with her while everyone else turned their attention to us.

"What's so funny?" Alice asked.

"Nothing," I grumbled.

Emmett looked at me, and then at the two giggling girls, Bella and Edward, before grinning knowingly. "I think I know," he announced.

"What do you know?" Rose asked him impatiently.

Dylan seemed to catch the vibe as well. "He doesn't know anything," he mumbled.

"Yes, he does, as do you, Chris, Bella, and Edward," Jasper observed. "And judging by—"

"Jasper, if you don't want me to call you Miss Jazzipants for the rest of your life, you better stop," I threatened in a hiss.

"That is the worst threat I have ever heard," Jasper retorted, laughing.

I moaned in defeat and turned my eyes back to the plate in front of me.

"Okay, no more teasing at the table, or I will take all of your powers away for a whole week," Esme interfered.

I sent her a grateful smile which she returned. She was just too sweet to be a teacher. She proved that once again when we all left an hour and a half later because she insisted on hugging each of us to wish us a good night. I never thought there would be the day that I'd say I had two really cool teachers. Carlisle and Esme were definitely the most amazing adults here.

"I'm tired," I informed my friends as we wandered back to the dorms.

"Aw, poor Dylan. I guess you can't spend the night with Chris then — she wants to sleep," Emmett said with mock pity in his voice.

Jasper coughed to diguise his laugh while Dylan rolled his eyes.

"Isn't that completely against school rules?" I asked Emmett sweetly.

"Since when do you care about the school rules? You didn't care when you and Damon spent the night together," Rose commented, laughing with Alice.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to leave the past behind?"

"Just like you left all of us behind to disappear with Dylan in his room?" Alice giggled.

"Whoa, guys," Jasper said. "This is the first time I've felt distress coming from Chris."

I glared at him.

"Violence is never the answer," he added when he felt a new wave of emotion come from me.

"Exactly. Chris, don't make war, make love," Emmett sang and batted his eyelashes with a goofy grin.

"Maybe should would've if you hadn't stomped in the room and interrupted them, Emmett," Rose cried through her laughter.

Right now, Alice and Rosalie were reminding me of hyenas. I glanced over at Bella and Edward. She so could have helped me out of this, if only she and Edward weren't being all lovey dovey, holding hands and talking while they shut the rest of the world out.

My shoulders slumped and I gave up with a sigh. Dylan seemed to have sensed my surrender because he was suddenly at my side with his arm around my shoulder before I could say anything.

"You know, Chris, now that we're already on the topic...I have a question," he said, sounding relaxed. I knew that when he spoke like this, there was nothing good going on in his brain.

"Ask somebody else," I grumbled.

"No, that would be a bit strange. I'll just ask you—"

"I'm sure Alice would love to answer you."

"I don't think so. Besides, I'm afraid I'll have to kill Jasper if she answered me—"

"I don't have a problem with that."

"Chris?"

"No."

"Are you—"

"Leave me alone!"

"—a virgin?"

I looked up at him in disbelief and instantly shook his arm off of me to stomp as far away from him as possible. He caught up with me, though, as did the others.

"She's reached the point of utter embarrassment. What did you do, Dylan?" Jasper asked.

Before he could open his mouth, I hissed, "Don't you dare tell them."

"You didn't answer anyway," he reasoned.

"Do you intend to punish me?"

"For what?" he asked innocently.

"For not being your girlfriend and kissing your feet."

"Of course not. And by the way, _when_ you are my girlfriend, you will not be kissing my feet. I have much better ideas—"

"I don't want to hear it," I protested instantly.

"Chris, could it be that you have a problem with talking about sex?" Rose said in a friendly tone, one that psychologists usually use. Don't even ask how I know that.

"No, I don't. I have a problem with you guys giving your opinions, comments, suggestions, everything about my love life," I snapped.

"Ah, you have anger management issues, too. I see," Rose continued, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Perhaps we should address these problems."

I sighed and gave up yet again. The rest of the way, I had to stand the five idiots around me asking me embarrassing things and suggesting the weirdest things while I simply refused to answer. Of course they found a way around that by getting Jasper to blurt out my emotional reaction.

I had already reached the point of blushing harder than Bella ever could when we ran into Irina.

"Bella! Bella!" she called, waving like a crazy groupie.

"Again?" Bella groaned quietly, no longer caught up in her happy place with Edward.

"Should I be worried about competition?" Edward asked when Irina was dangerously close.

"I don't think so. You're way prettier than Irina," I informed him, earning a glare from her now that she was in hearing range.

"Ah, Chris, I love you," Dylan said, chuckling and squeezing my shoulders.

Irina looked at us with a wicked expression on her face, but it abruptly changed when she looked down at my hands. After having been teased mercilessly by my friends, meeting Irina, and now hearing this complete nonsense from Dylan, my hands started blazing up. Irina didn't look too thrilled about that.

"I guess we'll see each other later," she said, sending a forced smile to Bella and a glare to me before leaving.

"Did you do something to her?" Edward asked absentmindedly.

"Not that I know of."

"Hmm...her thoughts aren't helping much. She's just insulting you in her mind," Edward said and then he flinched slightly.

"Maybe she likes Dylan," Alice snickered.

Instead of commenting, I just yawned loudly.

"Do you want me to beam you to your room?" Dylan offered.

I shook my head because I'd spotted someone.

**Bella POV**

Chris ran toward Damon, Dean, and Dario, who were coming from the basketball court. Or at least I assumed they were, since they were covered in a sheen of sweat and there was a basketball tucked under Damon's arm.

We all observed Dylan's reaction as he watched Damon pull Chris under his other arm while Dean ruffled her hair playfully. He didn't react at all, which was in a way, the biggest reaction of all.

"Life's rough, man," Edward said to his brother and clapped him on his back.

"Guys, we have to get to our rooms now — it's almost curfew," Alice reminded us.

I sighed loudly, but I was starting to feel tired anyway. Today had been seriously exhausting.

"See you tomorrow morning?" Edward asked, looking down at me with a small pout.

I chuckled quietly. "Sure."

His face broke into the most brilliant smile and my heart pumped so furiously, it felt like it would burst out of my chest. It was still a little hard for me to believe that this smile was mine now. Or rather that Edward had decided I was the most fitting to be his girlfriend.

"Alright guys, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight!" I waved at them and turned to the door of the Blue house while the others waved back and kept walking to their houses.

Edward didn't move though, instead, he caught my arm and spun me back around.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he mumbled and bent down to place a soft kiss on my lips.

"How could I forget that?" I whispered with a smile.

"It's a mystery to us all," he smiled back crookedly. "Goodnight, Bella."

"Goodnight," I sighed back.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A musical chuckle pulled me from my dreams. I opened my bleary eyes slowly and turned to where the voice came from.

"What are you doing here, Edward?" I slurred sleepily when I saw him perched on the edge of my bed.

"You know, you should really lock your door at night. Someone could just walk right in," he commented rather than giving me an answer.

"Someone just did," I replied groggily.

"True, but only because someone decided to have breakfast with you today," he flashed me a crooked grin.

I frowned a little. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

I sighed and slowly sat up. "I'd rather keep sleeping," I mumbled and rubbed my eyes.

"I wouldn't complain — you're very entertaining when you're sleeping."

"What?" Now I was wide awake. As soon as I asked that, the answer came to my mind. Until now, the only person who ever got to hear it was Chris. And not for the first time in my life, I cursed the fact that I talked in my sleep. "What did I say?" I asked slowly.

Some unreadable expression crossed Edward's face before it turned into one of amusement. I wondered what that was all about. Did I say something bad?...but my dreams hadn't be too bad...

"You talked about Raven," Edward said. "You told her not to cry so much. You also said how much you miss your parents. You don't want it to rain today, and I'm sorry to tell you that it's already raining," he gave me a small smile. "You said that Chris is an idiot," he recounted.

I nodded slowly. It pretty much fit my dreams. I didn't remember everything, but I thought there was a short part where I had been trying to figure out what that strange text meant, the one that Chris and I found, and I had been dreaming—

I blushed the deepest red I'd ever blushed.

Edward chuckled softly. "I suppose I don't have to tell you that you mentioned my name quite a few times as well," he murmured gently.

I buried my face in my hands and shook my head in humiliation. Edward scooted closer to me and put his arms around me, pulling me close to his chest. As always when I was close to him, I inhaled his intoxicating scent.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed about that," he whispered softly in my ear. "If it helps, I dream about you too. I just don't talk in my sleep."

"You do?" I asked in surprise.

"Almost every night."

I would have blushed harder, if only a sudden thought hadn't interrupted me.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"About an hour."

"Do I even want to know what made you decide to sneak into my room at six in the morning?" I asked him with raised eyebrows.

"I was hoping you'd already be awake," Edward stated with a nonchalant shrug.

"That's never going to happen."

"Doesn't matter to me. I enjoy listening to you. The sad thing is, you keep your shield up even when you're asleep." Edward's face scrunched in frustration.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not." I pulled away from him and immediately missed the warmth. I got up and gathered my toiletries and my uniform. "I'll be right back," I informed Edward with a smile. He gestured for me to go ahead.

I considered going to wake up Chris, but hearing the cursing coming from her room, I figured she had already woken up as well, so I just made my way to one of the bathrooms.

I tried to be as quick and thorough as possible. Twenty minutes later, I was decent enough to be seen by Edward. The way my hair had been before made it hard for me to believe that Edward hadn't had a laugh about it. It had taken the term 'haystack' to a whole new level.

I was still brushing my hair on my way back to my room, letting it lay neatly over my shoulder.

"Welcome back, Rapunzel," Edward greeted when I entered my room.

"Rapunzel?" I asked, looking at him in confusion.

"Your hair is just as beautiful as Rapunzel's," he reasoned. "I like it when it flows over your shoulder like that."

I rolled my eyes at the lame association, but went to my dresser to retrieve my blue scarf. I put it in a loose bow around my hair, so it was still left flowing over my shoulder, just to keep Edward happy. He appeared behind me and leaned his chin on my shoulder. I looked at him in the mirror.

"Can we go?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked when she, Damon, and Dario came to the table where Edward and I were seated, enjoying our breakfast.

"Good morning to you too, Christabel," Edward greet politely.

She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Where's Dean?" I questioned when I didn't see him around.

"Meredith and some others abducted him earlier," Damon told me casually.

"Since when do you wear your hair like that?" Chris shot as soon as he was done talking. She'd been eyeing me the whole time.

"I could ask you the same," I retorted.

While my hair was down smoothly for once, rather than up in a tight ponytail, hers was more lavish. She wore it in a ponytail that was so high that it was literally on top of her head, and for once, her hair didn't look smooth and shiny like it usually did. It looked ruffled and a little tangled, but she still managed to pull it off so that it looked great, only a little wilder than usual. It made her eyes look even more cat-like, which gave her a somewhat scary look. Basically, she looked like a wildcat; pretty, but dangerous.

"It brings out my eyes," she said, batting her eyelashes.

"You look like Panthera onca," Edward told her and released a small chuckle.

"Why don't you just say 'Jaguar' instead of throwing around unnecessary Latin words?" she threw back at him.

That made Edward shut up and me laugh.

"I'd rather know why you know what these so-called 'unnecessary Latin words' mean," Damon mumbled.

"Damon, darling, we've had this discussion already. I'm smart, just live with it."

"I'm smart too, thank you very much."

"Maybe so, but you're also a techno freak. Which reminds me, you wanted to fix my laptop."

"Do I even want to know why your laptop is broken?" I sighed.

"I don't know, do you?"

"Probably not."

"Good, 'cause I don't remember."

I rolled my eyes at her and turned my attention back to the bowl of cereal in front of me.

"You know, you never answered my question, Edward," Chris noted after a few minutes of silence.

"Is it really that important?" Edward asked and I could hear in his voice that he was grinning tauntingly at Chris.

"Yes, it is. I want to know if you just appeared or if you spent the night with my sister," she said in a tone that was much too casual.

I looked up at her in annoyance. "Chris, haven't we already had the discussion that you are not my father?"

Her eyes widened. "So he did spend the night?" she squeaked, but then she let her voice drop and turned to Edward. "Edward, have you been re—"

"God, Chris, he didn't even spend the night."

"Oh," her expression fell. "Oh." And then it changed to something I couldn't place, though I was pretty sure there was something like panic mixed into her features.

"Is everything alright, Chris?" Damon asked her carefully.

She shook her head slowly. "Someone intruded my mind last night. I didn't notice at first, but at some point I got that annoying feeling I always get when Edward gets into my head. But if he wasn't there last night...who was there to read my mind?"

Edward looked thoughtful as he kept his eyes on Chris. Judging by the way she stared back into his eyes in deep concentration—

"What are they doing?" Damon asked me in confusion.

"Chris is sharing her thoughts with Edward. Something that may never happen again."

"Maybe it was someone in the house who was using their abilities in their sleep. It seems your shield was weaker than usual at the time, therefore the person was able to effect you," Edward said and shrugg lightly. Then he turned his attention to me. "You and Chris dreamed similarly."

"Chris was dreaming about you?"

"That would be a nightmare," Chris grumbled.

Edward shot a glare in her direction before resuming to talk to me. "It was something about the bonded ones who have to return to life. I think it started like—" he stopped suddenly and eyed me cautiously. "Do I have to be worried about something?" he asked slowly.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"Wanna explain to me what this is about?"

"No offense, but I don't want to interpret Bella's dreams," Dario said in a bored tone.

"Hey, it was my dream too!" Chris protested.

"That makes it even less interesting."

I ignored their bickering.

"So would you mind telling me what all of this means?" Edward asked me quietly.

"I wish I knew myself," I sighed.

"I think we should get moving," Damon said and got up.

"Yes, we should. Alice is getting closer and she's in a bad mood," Edward mumbled and looked out the window.

Alice and the others were indeed coming closer.

"Well then, let's go," I sighed as I too got up from my seat.

"Edward, I'm highly disappointed in you," Alice said as soon as we oined the group.

"Alice, I didn't even do anything," he told her with a smug grin on his face.

Disappointment showed on her face, but then she returned to her usual cheery self. "Bella, I love your hair. Oh, and Chris, I love yours too...though you do look a little scary," she mumbled the last part.

"How come none of you ever greet us with a simple 'good morning'?" Chris asked instead of commenting on Alice's last statement.

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but Chris waved her off and joined Damon and Dario who had just left the house.

"Did you do something to her?" Jasper asked, sounding a bit puzzled.

"Not that I know of," I answered, letting out a yawn.

"It's going to start raining in 7 minutes and I don't want my hair to get wet," Alice announced, starting to walk.

"Did any of you manage that Duplex Charm?" Rose asked casually. The silence that followed was all she got as an answer. "Seriously guys? That is weak," she said and shook her head.

"Did you get it?" I asked her.

She grinned sheepishly.

"Why are you already learning the Duplex Charm?" Dylan asked in wonder.

"Yeah, I haven't even learned it yet," Edward added.

"That would be Mike Newton's fault," Jasper explained. "He complained that the spells and charms we're currently learning were too easy, then he blew up half of the classroom when his Patch Spell didn't work."

"So Carlisle decided to punish the whole class. If only one person manages to perform a decent Duplex Charm, we'll be off the hook. If not, we'll have to write a five page essay on the early stages of wand magic," Rose continued, grimacing at the mention of an essay.

"You should've said something. I could've helped you with that," Dylan said. He grabbed Alice's arm and studied the bracelet she was wearing for a moment. Then he clenched his hand in a fist and held it like that for a moment. When he opened his hand, he held an exact duplicate of the bracelet in his hand. It was a silver charm bracelet with small star-shaped pendants, all varying in size. "There," he said smugly, holding it out to me.

"Why didn't you need to use your wand for that?" I asked in surprise as I took the bracelet from him and gazed at it in awe.

"Eventually, you don't need the wand anymore for little things. If I wanted to duplicate a tree or something, I would've needed it. Although this only applies to extension wand users, I'm not sure about the others," explained Dylan.

"Shouldn't everybody be filthy rich if you can just duplicate things like that?"

"Nope," Rose said nonchalantly. "It'll vanish after a while." As if on cue, the bracelet in my hand suddenly disappeared.

"Well guys, I'll see ya later," Dylan said and ran after a group of people who all looked his age.

We entered the school building and were immediately trapped in a large group of people. All of them seemed to be gathered around the notice board.

"What are they all so excited about?" Emmett asked as he attempted to look over thier heads.

"Parents day is off," Edward replied.

"And here I thought it was something interesting," Rose mumbled, sighing.

In that moment, Chris appeared. "Did you hear—"

"Yes, the parents day is off," we all answered her at once.

"I wasn't going to say that," she said. "Jessica Stanley is crying because of it," she gushed with bright eyes.

"And that's interesting because..." Edward trailed off boredly, though Alice and Rose both seemed to be rather interested.

"It's not, but it is funny. She's crying for her mommy."

"Really? I want to see that," Rose jumped up and down eagerly, hoping to see something.

Chris pulled her along and somehow, they managed to squeeze through the crowd.

"Why is the parents day off?" Alice asked and shoved some guy who had accidentally touched her hair. Poor kid.

"Because of the school's new security. Nobody is allowed to enter or exit the school grounds until the investigation is over," Edward answered.

"The Christmas holidays are coming soon anyway," Jasper said nonchalantly.

I had completely forgotten about the holidays.

"But if nobody is allowed to leave, then all of us will have to stay here for Christmas, right?" I asked, slightly panicked. If my mother found out that her little babies weren't coming home for Christmas, she'd probably have a heart attack.

"It's still a little over a month away, so if you're lucky, the IDM will give up searching for someone they can't find by then," Edward soothed.

"And if not?"

"Then you will spend Christmas with us, of course," Alice answered in a screech. Even though everyone around us was extremely loud, she still managed to silence the room with her unnatural screeching. Everyone turned to look at us. "What?" Alice hissed at the closest person, and immediately everybody went back to shoving and pushing one another.

"I guess we should somehow get to our classes," Edward suggested. We all agreed and a minute later, Alice, Jasper, and I pushed our way through the crowd in the direction of our classroom. Jessica Stanley was indeed sitting on the stairs, crying hysterically.

And even I had to admit that it was amusing to watch. Chris and Rose were at the top of the stairs giggling like school girls.

The school day started just like every other. By now, it wasn't nearly as exciting as it had been in the beginning, but Calculus and Physics had never been exciting to me.

Every now and then I saw someone frantically trying to accomplish the Duplex Charm. I didn't even care much about it, although I really didn't want to write the essay.

"Good morning class," Carlisle greeted calmly as he entered the classroom. I thought I could detect a hint of smugness in the smile on his face, which kind of reminded me of Edward.

Carlisle went straight to the front of the class and leaned against the teacher's desk. Without a word, he made a quick movement with his hand and suddenly an egg appeared on all of our desks.

"You will have ten minutes to try. If nobody manages, you'll have to thank Mr. Newton for his lack of discipline," Carlisle instructed in the same calm manner as before.

"This is going to be just great," Alice mumbled sarcastically and pulled out her wand.

She wasn't the only one, and soon the air was filled with different voices, every single one sounding desperate as they said the word "Effingo."

Knowing that I couldn't complete the task anyway, I only tried it halfheartedly. After 5 minutes, I could see that Alice was getting impatient and Rose was frustrated. Chris simply sat with her arms crossed, which was a sign that she was frustrated as well.

"This is ridiculous. There is no way that any of us can complete this task," Rose huffed and dropped her wand.

"Of course not. This spell requires a great deal of magic. The trick is not to double the item, but to create an exact double," Jasper said and tried again.

"Isn't that exactly the same?" I asked him.

"No. By creating a double, you have to push the magic out and make it take on the form that you want. You have to memorize the object you want to duplicate before you can do so."

"Jasper, you are such a nerd," Rose commented.

"So that means the only problem is that we can't create enough magic to make a duplicate?" Chris asked.

"Yes, that's the problem," Jasper answered with a nod, trying the Charm once again.

"Oh, Bella, I like your idea," Alice cheered.

"What idea?" I asked. I hadn't even been thinking of ideas. How would I come up with a solution? As if I knew how we could create enough magic to complete the spell. None of us seemed to have enough—

I could practically hear the click in my head.

"I guess she meant that idea," Chris said dryly, obviously having read my mind.

"Care to explain?" Rose asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"We could all try it together," I told them nonchalantly as I shrugged.

"You mean like all of us at once?" Rose asked.

I nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. What's the worst that could happen?" Jasper seemed to be enthusiastic about my idea.

Alice swayed slightly to an unheard tune and then answered his rhetorical question. "There are two outcomes. Either we create an explosion that will throw all of us into different directions of the room, or we actually manage it."

"Two minutes left," Carlisle announced suddenly. Everyone started waving their wands faster and more panicky than before. Until now, I hadn't even noticed that some people had managed to blow their eggs up and had to fix them first.

"Okay, let's do this." Chris was rubbing her hands with dynamism.

All of them gathered around my desk and looked at the egg.

"On the count of three," Alice instructed. "One...two...three. Effingo." We all pointed out wands at the empty space next to the egg. I thought I saw a little flash of different colored light, but other than that, nothing happened.

"Well Alice, apparently there was a third outcome," Chris grumbled.

"The problem is that we did it individually. We would have to create some kind of connection for it to work," Jasper looked thoughtfully at his wand.

"One minute!" Carlisle's voice called.

"Do you have a solution?" Rose asked him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"I think so. The problem is that we all pointed our magic individually, so we have to put our magic into one and the same source for it to—"

"We only have one minute left," Rose interrupted, "so get to the point."

"All we have to do is use the same wand," Chris threw in before Jasper could continue.

"Exactly. I would suggest that we don't use yours or Bella's. It'd only weaken our magic."

"Then we take yours, but let's do it already, I really don't want to write that essay," Rose whined and grabbed Jasper's hand, in which he held his wand. We all shuffled closer to each other and put our hands on theirs.

Alice counted to three once more and after a collective "Effingo" there was actually a second egg laying in front of us.

"Oh Jazzy, you are such a genius," Alice cried and threw herself at him while Rose, Chris, and I cheered like fangirls.

Our cheering caught the attention of our other classmates, and Carlisle came up to inspect our work.

"Who did this?" he asked, looking at Chris and I.

"All of us," Rose burst out proudly as the rest of us nodded.

"Impressive. Well, since I said nothing against teamwork, I suppose this counts. Congratulations to the five of you. Everyone else, make sure to thank them for getting you our of writing the essay."

All we got was a mumbles and grumbles, along with a couple of thank yous, but that was it.

After that, Carlisle continued the lesson with the Patch Spell.

After a highly uninteresting History lesson, we finally had our lunch break. We made our way into the cafeteria after the bell rang. For once, the school cafeteria was actually pretty full compared to the previous weeks, though that probably had something to do with the fact that it was raining like crazy outside.

"It's raining men, hallelujah, it's raining men..." Chris sang for some unknown reason as we stood in line to get our food.

As soon as we were out of the line, Chris disappeared to a table somewhere on the other side of the cafeteria. I guessed that Damon was there, too, but I didn't pay much attention to that.

Emmett and Edward were already seated at the table, seemingly absorbed in their conversation.

"What's up?" Rose asked as she sat down beside Emmett.

The two boys looked up. Edward's face immediately brightened into a huge smile when he saw me.

"Edward gets to be on the chef council of the Psych class," Emmett told us.

"That means I'm part of those people who decide what the Psych people are going to do," Edward explained before I could even ask.

"You get to decide what the class learns?" I asked in wonder.

Edward chuckled. "No, I mean for the school fair. Every class will have their own part with different attractions. Last year, for instance, I was the Mirror of Truth."

"Does that mean that classification classes will start soon?" Alice asked in excitement.

"Yes, we'll start after the vacations. The council has to come up with some ideas in case students don't have enough ideas."

"That's going to be so much fun," Alice squealed.

"What did you do last year?" I asked her.

"The classification classes are only for senior high and college students. The junior high students organize the party at the end of the week and help out if needed. You know, like carrying stuff around or helping with the costumes...things like that. The elementary students start the fair with their musical. So the younger ones pretty much just enjoy the whole thing during the week, and now for the first time, I can be part of an attraction." Alice was getting so hyped up that she started bouncing in her seat. Jasper placed a hand on her arm and she calmed down a little.

"You know, I've been wondering...I don't think I've seen any six-year-olds in this school," I mused.

"That's because there are no six-year-olds in this school," Rose answered with a giggle.

"I thought the academy implied an elementary school?"

"Yes, but it would be a bit cruel to take kids away from home so early. Elementary only implies years four to six. That's why Esme isn't as stressed as Carlisle — she doesn't have so many kids to deal with," Edward explained casually.

I nodded in understanding.

"The only six-year-olds that were on campus were the teacher's children. But not all of them live here full-time. Most of the teachers have their family homes somewhere else, so it's not often that little kids are running around on campus. Except for us Cullen kids," Alice added.

"You really have been here all your life?" I asked, surprised.

Alice and Edward both nodded.

"Yes, yes, this is heartwarming and all, but you guys gotta hurry 'cause we have to get to class," Rose interrupted.

"Oh, you have your demon class now, don't you?" Emmett asked in an amused tone.

Alice let out something like a pathetic whimper.

"Seriously Alice, what are you so scared of? It's not like she's going to eat you," I told her.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Emmett said in a deep voice.

"Stop scaring her, Emmett," Jasper hissed when Alice's eyes became wide.

"Alice, for God's sake, you are a psychic. I think you'd know if she was planning on eating you," Rose said impatiently.

"First of all, the future can change. And secondly, you know I can't see everything," Alice pouted.

"Hey guys! Ready for the demon lesson?" Chris suddenly appeared at our table, looking highly enthusiastic about this whole thing.

"Let's just go," I mumbled and rose from my chair.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The whole class seemed to be excited about this new teacher, although 'excited' wasn't quite adequate. It was more like an uproar or something.

When someone started talking about how demons are known to spit fire, Ms. Carmina finally entered the room. She didn't look any different than she had at the assembly, though she was wearing black dress pants with black pointed toe heels peeking out along with a fitted white 3/4" sleeve button-up shirt. Her curly brown hair was up in a professional-looking, yet slightly messy ponytail.

She sat down on the teacher's desk, crossed her legs swiftly, and looked at us with curious green eyes. The class was awfully quiet as she seemed to be studying us. No one dared to move even the slightest bit.

"Hello," she said in a gentle voice. "I'm sure that all of you already know, but I'll say it anyway. My name is Ms. Carmina, I'm Mr. Decour's teaching assistant, but since he is temporarily off campus, I'm also your substitute," she paused for a moment to look at us. It was still very silent in the classroom. "Today we are going to talk about the progress of animalistic spirituality and the presuppositions that are needed to make use of that magical branch—"

"Actually, Mr. Decour was teaching us about physical adjustments and changes that come along when developing the full extent of the gift," Lauren threw in, sounding like one of those annoying children that always think they know everything. The kind of children that made you want to lock them in a closet and throw away the key.

Ms. Carmina slid off the desk and sauntered in a rather graceful manner toward Lauren's desk. "In case you haven't noticed, I am not Mr. Decour, so you'll have to deal with this small teaching difference," she said, still as gentle as before. Then she moved on, probably thinking that Lauren would shut up now, but that was hardly the case.

"Don't think that I'm going to listen to anything you say. The last thing I need is a _demon_—" she sneered the word, "—telling me about magic," she finished and I was shocked to hear a few voices agreeing to that.

Then something strange happened. The moment Ms. Carmina turned toward Lauren again, some kind of force went through the whole room, making it shake for a second.

"You know, Ms. Mallory, don't think _I_ care about what _you_ say. The last thing I need is to waste my time teaching a couple of ungrateful brats. Believe me when I say that I am definitely not here because I think it's fun to stand in a sweaty classroom, teaching mentally defected students such as yourself. So if you don't like my class, you are free to go. All it will do is make my life easier," Ms. Carmina's voice was still rather gentle, but the menacing edge didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

I watched as Lauren shivered for a second before collecting her things and waltzing toward the door. "I'll talk to the principal about that," she said and then left the room.

Ms. Carmina perched back atop the desk while a lot of other students began gathering theirs thing as well. They shuffled out of the room and I was pretty sure that I saw a small smile on Ms. Carmina's face as she watched nearly half the class squeeze themselves through the door.

"You know, I always thought a class of twelve people would be so much better," Chris whispered to me when the last students had closed the door behind him.

"I'm actually surprised Alice didn't run out too," I whispered back in reply.

"Well, I guess I can start now without anymore interruptions," Ms. Carmina signed contently and hopped off the desk to write something on the board.

_The magic of animal spirituality was first practiced by demons_, Ms. Carmina printed neatly on the whiteboard. _The art to establish a connection with an animal or species was discovered by them because demons have a much stronger resemblance to animals. For witches, it is much more difficult to access this magic. Yet they have managed to expand this specific branch of magic in some aspects with the help of their own magical abilities. However, it is not possible for everyone to use this art._

"I really don't get this whole animal spirit thing," Alice whined. In a classroom that was nearly half empty like ours was, it wasn't the best idea to speak too loudly because it echoed. That's why Ms. Carmina heard her and turned around as Alice attempted to hide herself behind Jasper. When she saw the friendly expression on Ms. Carmina's face, she sat up straight.

"What is it you don't understand?" Ms. Carmina asked.

"The whole thing," Alice answered. "For instance, why most witches can't use it."

"Ah, well that is rather complicated. First of all, the spirit itself is more of an energetic force rather than an actual spirit. Every demon is born with it and some witches are too. Whether or not you can use it later is mostly determined within the first weeks of your life. If you tend to be more human than the spiritual magic will weaken — in most cases it will just vanish completely because it's unnecessary for you. But some people tend to lean more toward the animal side that all of us have that connects them with the spiritual force. By then, it isn't even an actual animal yet.

The animal molds itself to the characteristics of the related person or to the genetic predispositions. Most witches that are able to use this magic have relatives, usually parents, who are also able to access it. Whether you develop the human or animal side depends partly on just your environment. And since witches are generally more domesticated than demons, they are unable to use this branch of magic simply because they have no use for it."

"So it would be my parents' fault if I'm unable to connect with an animal spirit?" Rose asked.

Ms. Carmina chuckled. "In a way, yes. Although, in some cases the force only weakens and can be regenerated by great magical skill."

"What is your spirit?" Chris asked her.

Ms. Carmina's eyes flitted straight to Chris. "I'm part of the Firehound clan," she answered, eyeing Chris with curiosity.

"What's a Firehound?" This time, it was me asking.

"It's a mystical creature that is quite common in the Pandemonium."

"Demons really do live in Hell?" Melanie Adams asked.

"That's what you call it. Although we refer to it as Netherworld."

"But demons don't really suck blood, do they?" Rose asked in a worried tone. I shouldn't have been surprised that she was scared of her own horror stories.

Ms. Carmina's expression changed for a split second before she composed herself. "I think we're getting off topic here, but since I have yet to bite someone here, I think you'll be safe."

_Should we be worried that she didn't say that she'd never bit anyone in her whole life?_ Chris' voice asked in my head. I thought about that for a moment. It was indeed rather unlucky wording, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

I shook my head slightly in Chris' direction. She seemed to be still thinking about it.

The lesson continued and I was very convinced that I wouldn't be one of the witches that accomplish this branch of magic.

"Now we've got a free period, so what shall we do?" Chris asked, stretching herself out on the desk after Ms. Carmina left the room.

"Sleeping on a desk isn't a half bad idea," Rose said, pushing Chris aside to make space for herself.

"Get your own table, Hale."

It didn't take long before the two of them were pushing each other off the table over and over. Jasper, Alice and I only shook our heads at them.

After a few more minutes of that, the two of them finally gave up and simply sat on the table together, Rose leaning her head on Chris' shoulder and Chris leaning her head against Rose's.

"Aw, that's cute, guys. Wait a sec, I need to take a picture," Alice cooed and immediately started rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a camera and started to snap picture upon picture of Chris and Rosalie, who both posed enthusiastically.

"Hey Alice, can the pictures move?" Chris asked when they were done with their little photoshoot.

"Move? You mean like in Harry Potter?"

Chris nodded.

"Not really. There are some artists who can make that happen when they take a portrait, but apparently it's really hard to do. Right now, there's only two artists that are able to catch movements in their paintings, I think."

"No, it's just one," Jasper corrected. "Madame Corbeaux died three years ago."

"Whatever," Alice replied with a shrug. "At least I have pretty pictures in case we ever make Christmas cards."

"Ah, Christmas is going to be great. Back in Phoenix, back to the sun," Chris sighed contently.

"We might not even go home for Christmas," I told her. Her daydreaming was abruptly cut off.

"What? Why wouldn't we? It's not because I forgot to call Mom, right?"

"No. Apparently no one gets out of here for now because of the investigation, so it just so happens that we might end up spending Christmas here."

Alice's eyes danced with excitement as she squealed, "With us."

"And snow," Chris added with a shudder. "I should have burned that green freak a bit more."

Chris was replaying the scene in her head, regretting that she had only caught the side of the person.

"You actually burned her?" I asked in disbelief.

"Um, yeah, you were there, remember?"

"Yes, but I thought you missed. By the way, I still don't know how you did it."

"No, I didn't miss. I think I even got her on the arm the second time, but I'm not sure since she was already vanishing. And to be honest, I don't really remember how I did it. It was a stress situation."

"If you hit her twice, then why didn't you tell Carlisle that?" Jasper asked, sounding a bit more agitated then he usually did.

"Didn't I?"

"No, you didn't," we all answered in unison.

Chris shrugged. "It's not like it's very important anyway. I'm sure it'd be healed by now, 'cause I'm pretty sure there's all kinds of mending spells and charms."

"True," Rose added, nodding thoughtfully to herself.

"Not true," I disagreed. Everyone turned to look at me. It was a good thing that our fellow students had decided to enjoy their free period somewhere other than the classroom. "The burns don't heal with mending spells."

"How do you know?" Chris asked me.

"When you burned my hand yesterday, Edward tried to heal the burn but it didn't work," I explained.

"There's only one fire with that trait and that's the abyssus fire," Alice chirped and Jasper nodded in agreement.

"And what does this abyssus fire look like?" Chris asked.

"Just like normal fire," Jasper answered. "It's just more dangerous because once it really blazes up, it's hard to quench."

"So how do we know that I didn't throw abyssus fire around? When I threw those fireballs, I wasn't consciously choosing to do that, I was more or less visceral. And when I burned Bella, it was definitely instinctive because I wasn't even aware of anything going on," Chris reasoned.

"It makes sense in a way," Rose commented.

"Don't you think it would be hard to miss a person with two burn marks that cannot be healed? The healers have to report things like that," said Alice.

"Who says she went to the hospital?" Chris retorted.

"Who says she's even still on campus?" I threw in. "She came out of the ground, so basically, she can be everywhere."

That was the end of our discussion as Chris went back to cursing the person because it was their fault that we might be stuck in Forks over Christmas.

Our free period was over much too soon and I wasn't the least bit motivated for gym class. But apparently even Mr. Stan wasn't in the mood for his own subject because he decided that we could do whatever we wanted. Some girls decided to play volleyball while the rest just sat around and watched. The boys, on the other hand, decided to play soccer.

On our way back to the dorms, much to Alice's dismay, it was raining.

"I'm singing in the rain..." Chris was, once again, singing. I didn't know why she suddenly felt the need to do so, but there was no time for me to figure it out as Dylan, Edward, and Emmett caught up with us.

As soon as the three boys joined our little group, Chris danced off toward another group of people in which I saw Damon and Dean.

"How did the demon class go?" Emmett asked Alice with a slight smirk on his face.

"She really does come from Hell," Alice answered dryly.

"But she doesn't suck blood," Rose added when Emmett opened his mouth to speak.

We all laughed at his disappointed expression when he realized that he could no longer tease Alice.

A little while later, Chris reappeared right after we decided that we would let the boys play pool in the Black house common room while we watched. Chris didn't seem to like the plan too much, but she didn't say anything as we made our way to the house.

Alice excused herself for a moment to go fix her hair.

A few minutes after, she came back and seemed to be pretty worked up.

"Look at that!" she shouted throughout the common room, causing every person in the room to flinch as she waved around a newspaper in her dainty little hands.

"Is there a sale somewhere?" Edward asked her, still concentrating on the game of pool.

"No. Apparently someone broke into the head of Crime Control's office," she answered.

That seemed to be much more interesting to Edward because he dropped his cue and dashed to Alice's side to snatch the paper from her hands. He read through the article quickly, his eyes hurriedly scanning over the words, before he handed the paper to Dylan, who had his hand outstretched, awaiting the paper. Dylan decided to read it out loud for everyone's benefit.

"_Monday, November 8th, 1:37 PM,_" Dylan read. "_IDM Headquarters Chaos!_" he announced the headline of the paper. "_It was only a few moments ago that an alarm spell was triggered here in the office of the head of the Crime Control Unit. The burglar was unfortunately seen by no one, therefore their identity remains anonymous as of now, but it is assumed that he or she played a part in the murder of one Alistair Merchile. Reason for this accusation is due to the only item stolen from the office being a specific file revolving around the murder case._" Dylan looked up to see all of us staring at him in disbelief.

"Is that bad?" Chris asked carefully.

"Well, kind of. But the more shocking thing is that somebody actually managed to break in. That is said to be impossible," Alice explained quickly.

"So the green lady is trying to cover up her tracks," Rose said.

"Hopefully not," mumbled Jasper.

"Why not?"

"If that's what her intention was, then we're all kind of going to have a problem. Our names are in the file."

The silence that followed was almost deafening.

"Well I don't see any of us dead in the future," Alice announced after a long silence.

"That's not much of a relief, Alice, considering what a wacky psychic you are," Chris muttered.

Alice glared at her but Chris merely shrugged it off.

"Don't you think she would have killed us right away if that was really what she intended to do?" I asked no one in particular.

"Not if she was injured like Chris said," Jasper answered.

"What if she mended it quickly?"

"What if I really did hit her with abyssus fire?" Chris interfered.

"Then she would still be injured and in no condition to kill eight teenagers at once."

"Then why would she be in the condition to break into high security buildings?"

"Maybe it wasn't her."

"But then she would have to have a partner who could most likely kill us very easily."

I sighed. There was no way to make that sound positive.

"First of all, what is this abyssus fire talk about? And secondly, we are currently being watched by IDM," Emmett tried to reason.

"You mean the people who failed to catch her in the first place and managed to fail a second time?" Rose muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"Well then we're all going to die," Chris shrugged. She wasn't scared or anything, but I could hear her mind busily working to find answers.

She wasn't the only one.

That night, I didn't sleep well. My dreams were highly disorienting. The strange text that we couldn't decipher, the plant woman hunting me through a maze, and something with red hair. That was pretty much all that I dreamed that night within the short periods of time that I actually managed to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I was so drained that I could hardly open my eyes. When I finally managed to, I saw Edward sitting on the couch. Now that I sat up, he turned to look at me.

"Now you really should start locking your door at night," he said with a halfhearted grin.

I didn't comment on that.

"Your dreams were really strange," he mumbled after a few moments of silence as he stared absentmindedly into space.

"Did I talk again?" I groaned, not really needing an answer.

"No, you didn't. You tossed and turned a lot, and your shield wasn't in place. What is that strange text that both you and Chris dream about?"

I looked at him for a while before I got up and went to my dresser to get the piece of my box that had the second part in it. When I held it out to Edward, he used the opportunity to pull me onto his lap in a swift movement and then he turned his attention to the piece of wood I handed him.

"What is this?" he asked after he read it.

"I don't know. It's a part of the wand box that Alistair gave me. Chris accidentally broke it off when you and Damon locked us in here."

"That's why she wanted her wand box," he said in realization.

I nodded.

"And you think this has something to do with you?" Edward asked.

Again, I nodded.

"Well then it would make sense why Alistair gave it to you — if he even knew about this — but I doubt it has anything to do with you."

"But Chris and I are bonded."

"Yes, but if the wands are hundreds of years old, then the boxes probably are too, so it could have applied to any of the previous owners."

"But how many of them were bonded?"

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"This is a pretty pointless discussion," I said to him.

He nodded slowly.

"Well then I guess I'll just get ready for school."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Somehow I managed to get through the first bit of the school day. None of us, not even Alice, seemed to be all that awake as we dragged ourselves into the Elemental Room for our Specialized Magic class.

"Okay class," Ms. Carmina said as she entered the room. "Mr. Decour has asked me to test a few of you to see if you've made any progress." A few people groaned at that.

It seems Lauren's little talk with the principal didn't go too well since today, the class was full.

"Ms. Adams, pick someone you want to turn invisible," Ms. Carmina called. Some students chuckled. As a group of girls giggled quietly, Melanie shyly looked around. Ms. Carmina seemed to notice the laughter and it didn't look like she was too pleased with that. "You can come and be Ms. Adam's volunteer," she said, looking at one of them.

I turned to see that it was Kate, Tanya, and Irina she was talking to. They all looked at each other, trying to figure out which one of them she meant.

"The one with the blond curls," Ms. Carmina added impatiently.

Irina didn't look too happy about that, and probably regretted curling her hair.

When Irina made it to the front, Ms. Carmina signalled Melanie to start. Melanie placed her hand on Irina's shoulder and closed her eyes in concentration. She'd made enough progress to turn herself and her clothes transparent, but not completely invisible. She seemed to be having problems with pushing her ability onto Irina, and I watched as she tightened her grip a little. Irina let out a hiss and slapped her hand away.

"Are you crazy? That hurts!" she spat at Melanie.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Melanie mumbled, bowing her head and hiding behind her hair, looking like a small servant as some of the people in the room laughed.

This time, when Melanie put her hand on Irina's shoulder, she was trying to be careful and barely even touched her. It was because of this Irina's sweater was the only thing to change at all. And the only thing that happened was it turned transparent. Irina noticed that immediately and hissed furiously at Melanie while the class laughed and Ms. Carmina worked to calm Irina down.

"What could she have done that made it so she has to wear bandages?" Alice asked in a somewhat disgusted tone.

So Alice had seen them too. Irina had her right arm bandaged as well as her midriff. I'd been wondering if it had just been my imagination.

"I seriously hate that girl," Chris hissed. She didn't seem to react too well to Irina's horrendous attitude toward Melanie. Irina was still shrieking and hissing, even at Ms. Carmina.

At least the class found it entertaining.

"Wow, she is _really_ angry," Jasper commented with a surprised edge to his voice.

"Look at that!" Chris said, pointing at Irina's feet, but I couldn't see anything.

It took me a minute to realize that Chris had been lacking in control again and got too worked up, so she was now burning on the inside and able to use her enhanced senses. Through her mind, I saw what she saw.

Something was growing out the ground. Very tiny roots started to break through the surface of the ground of the room and wound themselves around Irina's shoes. But the magic of the room kicked in, making them vanish again.

My mind started racing, putting together different scenarios. I was still in Chris' head and for the first time, we thought together. Although it was a strange phenomenon, I couldn't concentrate on that.

"What is Irina's ability?" I asked Alice quickly.

"She can grow plants. Once, she even managed to let a flower grow out of her hand. Other than that, she just accelerates their growth—"

Chris' attention was on something else already. Irina's palms were taking on a greenish tone.

_Irina is the killer!_ Chris and I shouted in our heads at once, staring at each other in horror.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Gasp! Bet you didn't see that one coming. Well, this chapter is now the new longest chapter of the story with 20,748 words. I'm so proud of myself. So, you guys know what you have to do now, while I work on a plan of what happens in the next chapter... I think it is going to be a bit less dramtic with Christmas and the fair coming up. It's actually kind of weird to write about Christmas a few days after Easter... oh well. I'll try my best to update faster, but only if I get enough reviews in which you better appreaciate that horrible "science" I made up about animal spirits. THat was really hard to acomplish ;)**


	15. Sorry Kid, We're Not Gonna Happen

**_A/N:_ It's amzing how much reviews motivate me. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and to show you just how grateful I am I finished the next chapter. Right now, I'm just really creative, so it might happen that I update faster...or maybe not because I got my finals coming up -.-**

**Anyway, thanks to my amzing beta ( You And Me Up In A Tree) I'm able to update so fast, because she forces me to write**

**Okay, enough talking, have fun reading**

* * *

**Bella POV**

"Did you guys hit your head or something?" Emmett asked.

We were walking back to our dorms when Chris and I blurted out our newest insight.

"No," we answered in unison, still very worked up from our revelation.

"How in the world did you come up with that theory?" Rose asked, sounding as if she were questioning our sanity.

"First of all, the things that Irina has in common with the killer," I started.

"She's a woman," Chris started recounting. That obvious fact made everyone roll their eyes.

"And she has a botanical gift," I continued.

"That doesn't mean anything. She's not the only one with a gift like that," Alice interfered.

"Can all of them turn into a plant?" Chris asked.

"Not all, but this one senior can," Emmett replied.

Chris looked at him for she said, "Wasn't that a guy?"

Emmett shrugged.

"Seriously guys, it can't be Irina. How would she have grown out of the ground?" Jasper asked.

"If she has a botanical gift and she was a plant, it isn't all that complicated considering the maze was practically a garden," I answered.

"But when Alistair vanished, she was talking to us. How would she have done that?" Dylan tried to reason.

"You beamed us to the edge of a forest, and since she can grow out of the ground and make ranks grow out of her arm, I don't think it would have been hard too drag Alistair away when we were standing so close to the forest."

"Don't you think we would have noticed if some giant plant took Alistair away?"

"Obviously not, otherwise we would have. Besides, it would explain why Irina was talking to us - to distract us."

"Oh my God, we told Irina where you were," Alice gasped suddenly.

"Okay, so maybe Irina did kill Alistair. But why would she have done that, and how did she vanish?" Edward asked.

"You get a kiss if you find an answer to those questions."

"Do I get a kiss even if I don't?"

"Guys! This is hardly the time," Chris scolded.

"Well there's only one way to find out if it was her or not," Rose said and everyone turned to look at Edward meaningfully.

"What? Am I supposed to just go up to her and ask her if and why she killed him?"

"Good idea," Chris approved.

"Bad idea," I remarked. "As far as we know, she has a partner somewhere. So if Edward does that, and she doesn't kill him then her partner will," I objected.

"To be exact, she works for someone," Dylan muttered, sounding like he'd just had an epiphany, which he probably had. "She said something about a Master who will be pleased when she gets the twins too."

It was like all of us held our breath for a moment before Chris started cussing so loud and harsh that some people actually turned to look at us.

"That would explain why she was so keen on befriending Bella," Rose said.

"And we know why she hates Chris," Alice added.

"But why would someone want the twins?" Jasper wondered.

"Oh I don't know," Emmett mumbled. "Something other than their awesome powers, bond, and heritage, I'd assume."

Just like earlier, Chris' and my mind worked together.

"The text," we breathed in synchronization after a few moments of quiet.

"What text?" Alice asked.

"Some cryptic writing in their wand boxes," Edward answered.

"The boxes you got from Alistair?" Jasper asked curiously.

Chris and I nodded. We had already reached the Blue house, so we both quickly ran inside to get to our rooms. The others trailed behind, whispering excitedly to each other. I found it a bit strange that none of them were scared about the fact that we went to school with a murderer. That should've been a rather disorienting fact.

A few minutes later, we were all seated in Chris' room.

Alice held both pieces of our boxes in her hands and read the inscription aloud. "A long lost might, superior to others, sealed away by the bonded ones. To be found and unraveled, the bonded ones must return to life and find the clues to solve the mystery. In the end, the light and the dark will be in their hands. A keepsake of old times; a reminder of pure times."

"Wow," breathed Rosalie.

There was nothing else to be said about that.

"And how exactly is that connected to Alistair's murder?" Emmett asked.

"That's what I don't know yet, but—" I started, but Chris decided to continue talking for me.

"But it might explain why someone apparently needs us," she finished.

"You lost me," Alice murmured with a sigh.

"Please tell me you're not referring to that whole Heaven and Hell story again," Edward groaned.

"Why not? It could be true," I defended.

"It's just a story. The only thing real about it is the mentioned ancestors, who are not Heaven and Hell."

"Whatever Edward. Even if it wasn't true, it doesn't mean that everyone believes that," Chris interrupted when she sensed that I was going to argue.

"Exactly. There could be someone who believes it's true and wants to find the long lost might." Everybody seemed to be thinking intently as I spoke.

"And for that, they apparently need the bonded ones—" Chris said.

"—and since we're bonded, they could just assume that this applies to us—"

"—therefore he or she needs us to unravel it."

"Could you stop finishing each other's sentences? It's kind of creepy," Emmett asked, looking between Chris and I.

"No," we answered with matching grins.

"We didn't even do it intentionally, Emmett. Sometimes our minds just work in perfect synchronization like that."

"Wouldn't the person have to know this text, then?" Edward asked, getting back to the subject at hand.

"Yes."

"So whoever it is must have had the boxes before," Edward continued slowly.

I caught on quickly. "Which could mean that Alistair worked for that person, but he decided to let us know about the whole thing for whatever reason, but then his boss found out and wanted him dead."

"No. Remember what he said?" Chris asked in objection. "'We are watching you, just like they are. You must know that you are being watched and you need to be careful with who you trust'," she quoted word for word.

"So there are two parties watching you?" Alice asked, looking around the room. "That's scary."

"Well, that explains why I sometimes feel like we're being watched," I mumbled.

"But if he wasn't working for the Killer party, who was he working for?" Emmett asked impatiently.

"Oh, I know who!" Chris exclaimed, suddenly bright.

"Really?" Emmett asked with wide eyes.

Chris rolled her eyes before narrowing them, "No," she muttered darkly.

Emmett slumped back and mumbled something about stupid answers.

"Ask a stupid question, receive a stupid answer," Chris stated simply.

"Well, if you're really being watched, then maybe it's not the greatest idea to talk about this," Edward mused and pulled his wand out of his sleeve.

"How did you do that?" Chris demanded quickly.

Dylan answered her, "A storage charm."

Edward flicked his wand lightly and murmured something that sounded like, "Adpareo."

"What was that?" Jasper asked with curiosity in his voice.

"The spell would have discovered anyone hidden in the room," Edward explained.

"Well, then I'm relieved that nobody is watching us now," Chris grumbled.

"What if there are two parties after you?" Rose threw in suddenly.

"Maybe they have some kind of rivalry thing going on which is why they kill each other."

"Then which side does Laurent work for?" Chris asked.

"What does he have to do with anything?" Jasper countered.

"Alistair told us to talk to Mr. Decour when we found out the reason. He probably meant the reason we were apparently being watched by strangers."

"He probably belongs to Alistair's side, then," Dylan concluded.

"Or not," Chris disagreed. "No one is allowed off campus, but Laurent left. He's the only person that we know of that has left the campus, and one day after he's gone, someone breaks into the IDM's main office."

"Oh shit, our teacher's a killer," Rose exclaimed.

"I think we should talk to daddy," Alice suggested, staring into space.

"Yes, we _could_ talk to Carlisle—" I started, only to be cut off by Alice.

"No, we can't talk to him!"

"What? Why? Wasn't it your idea to go to him?" All of us looked at Alice in confusion.

"Yes, but when we tell him..." she mumbled quietly, "Rose dies first."

"What?" Rosalie shrieked.

"Only if we talk to Carlisle about it," Alice added. "The future seems normal when we decide against it. At least I can see you, Jasper, and your parents at the school fair. That's the furthest I can see, though."

"Well then, we won't talk to Carlisle," Emmett decided immediately.

"That means our suspicions are right," Chris said in a worried tone.

"For now, there's nothing we can do then, right?" Edward asked.

Everyone mumbled some kind of agreement.

"So we'll just have to wait and see what happens?" My question sounded more like a statement than anything else.

"That's the plan," Dylan answered.

All of us fell into silence after that.

**Third POV**

An unnatural shadow appeared on the wall in Master's conference room. He hadn't expected Shadow to show up during the day.

"Is there a problem?" Master asked lightly when Shadow stood in the room.

"Yes. The twins found out who Alistair's murderer is."

Master's expression changed abruptly. He pulled his wand out and wielded it quickly before placing it back down. Nightmare rushed into the room immediately, followed by Houdini. A few minutes later, Blossom made an appearance.

"Blossom," Master's voice was unemotional as he spoke, "I was just flicking through the file that Houdini retrieved for me and I started worrying that the twins have noticed far too much, but it seems they've noticed even more than I thought seeing as Shadow just informed me that they've figured out who killed the poor wandmaker."

Blossom's expression fell. Just a moment ago, she had a pissed off look on her face. Nightmare chuckled at her reaction with a smug look on her face.

"But...how?...they couldn't have..." Blossom stammered.

"It doesn't matter how they found out. You should be extra cautious from now on. Normally I would have killed you by now, but that would only arise even more suspicion, so count your blessings, child."

Blossom nodded eagerly.

"Now, is there anything else that you need to tell me?" Master asked his minions. Even though he seemed to be calm, there was an unmistakable menace in his voice.

"Master, I managed to intrude the dreams of both twins, and although they know the prophecy, they have no idea what to do with it." Nightmare seemed to be eager for Master's approval.

"At least something has been accomplished properly," Master mumbled under his breath before turning to Nightmare. "Did you get the full prophecy out of their dreams?"

"No, it was only snippets and just the things we already know."

"Well then, it seems one of you must go and get the prophecy. I need to know the exact wording to achieve my goal."

"I would get it for you, but I don't know where it is," Houdini was quick to volunteer like the perfect pet he was.

"It's in the wand boxes. That's what the wandmaker gave them." Master looked out the window, deep in thought. "But you will have to wait a little while longer before you can get it. We have to wait for them to feel secure again before we can strike."

**Bella POV**

"I'm already so excited to see my little babies. I miss you so much. The house is just so empty without you two," Mom gushed on the phone.

Chris and I had decided to talk to Mom together this time. That's why Chris was laying on the floor next to my bed while I let my head hang over the edge of it. All we had to do was put Mom on speakerphone and it was almost as if she were standing right next to us, rambling on and on about unnecessary things.

"So when are you planning on flying over?" Mom asked.

Before either of us could answer, the door opened and all of our friends piled in. Edward came to sit on the next beside me.

"What are you two doing?" he asked in a cheery voice.

It was hard to believe that only a month ago, he freaked out over the smallest of things and always dragged me away from Irina. As soon as Edward discovered that he could no longer read her thoughts, he instinctively picked me up and brought me somewhere he deemed safe. It had been rather annoying, but I let him protect me anyway since there wasn't really much I could do about it.

"Bella, who is with you there?" Mom asked, obviously having heard Edward and the others since none of them bothered to be quiet.

Now that they all heard our mom, they slowly turned to look at me and Chris.

"No one really, Mom. Just the people that call themselves our friends," Chris replied lightly, still laying on the floor.

"Who is the boy I just heard?" Mom pressed.

"Depends on which one you mean. We have quite a few of them here."

"Oh really? I only heard the one asking what you're doing."

"Oh, that's Edward, but she's not classified as a boy, Mom," Chris answered, snickering at her own joke along with Emmett, Dylan, and Jasper.

Edward just glared at her.

"Chris, that is not very nice. Did I not teach you better than that?" Mom sounded like she was currently occupied with something else.

"Listen to your mother, Chris," Edward threw in.

"Oh, am I on speaker? Oh yes, of course I am. How else would I talk to the both of you?" Mom mumbled.

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked her. When she sounded distracted on the phone, it was never a good thing.

Chris sat up and watched the phone anxiously.

"Yes, yes, I'm al—ouch."

"What are you doing?" both Chris and I quickly asked.

"Nothing really. I'm just trying to make dinner for your father."

"You really shouldn't do that, Mom, your food is hardly edible," Chris said.

"Chris!" everyone in the room hissed.

"What? It's the truth."

"But your father says I'm a good cook," Mom sniffed.

"He's lying because he doesn't want to hurt your feelings. A good cook doesn't try to boil eggs in the microwave, Mom. Just leave the cooking to Bella."

"Bella can cook?" Emmett asked with a surprised yet enthusiastic look on his face.

"Oh yes, my little Jelly Belly is a brilliant cook," Mom immediately started praising. Meanwhile, Emmett and Jasper started laughing at my nickname and even Edward let out a small chuckle.

"Mrs. Swan, may I ask how Bella earned the name Jelly Belly?" Edward asked in a perfectly polite tone.

I reached out quickly to grab the phone and turn the speaker off but Edward was faster and he caught my hand before I could do anything.

"When Bella was five, she refused to eat anything but jelly on toast. She was also quite known for belly flops when she was ten. And when she turned thirteen—"

"Mom!" I whined, cutting her off. I really didn't want to hear these stories for the millionth time. I lived them, after all.

"Aw Bells, don't be like that. That Edward seems like a nice, polite young boy. You should go for it." I could practically hear the wink in her voice.

"Mom!"

"Mom, it's too late for that," Chris chirped. "She already went for it."

"What? Why do I know nothing of this? Isabella Marie Swan, you have some serious explaining to do," Mom screeched from the other end of the phone.

I groaned. "Thanks a lot, Chris."

"You don't want to tell your mother about me?" Edward asked, sounding hurt.

"That's not it," I defended myself. "She just gets annoying when she knows things like that."

"I heard that!" Mom's voice sang through the phone.

"I told Mom and Dad about Damon," Chris boasted proudly.

"Did you tell them about me too?" Dylan asked in an amused tone.

"Shut up, Dylan," Chris hissed back at him, causing him to laugh in response.

"Christabel—" Mom started.

"Mom, don't say it."

"—Haley Swan, how dare you fool around with two boys at once?"

Chris flinched at the mention of her middle name. She'd never liked it much.

"Your second name is Haley?" Alice asked dreamily.

"The name is far too nice for you, Chris. You should have a name like Salazar or something," Rose commented.

"I would prefer it too," Chris muttered.

"Christabel, I'm still waiting for an answer. You know, playing with the emotions of two boys at once isn't something you should do when you're in high school," Mom started scolding right away. "I waited until I was in college before I started misusing my feminine wiles."

"Mom!" both Chris and I shouted in disgust.

"This is not something we want to know," I continued while the others laughed.

"Oh yes, Bella, tell me about that boyfriend of yours."

"I'm right here, Mrs. Swan. You can ask me anything you'd like," Edward replied before I had the chance to.

"You certainly have a handsome voice," Renée hummed. "How old are you?"

Chris burst out laughing when she detected the flirty undertone in Mom's voice while I stared at the phone in horror. Emmett and Jasper hadn't even recovered from their last laugh attack, so I was pretty sure they were going to suffocate soon.

It wasn't rare that dearest Renée was like that. She enjoyed flirting with younger men. At least she admitted it once. For her, it's just a huge joke.

"I'm 18," Edward answered, still as polite as ever, but I could sense he was a little confused with my mom's behaviour.

"18!" Mom's voice yelled, sounding positively surprised.

"Don't get all excited, Renée. He's only got eyes for Bella. Although I had to bend his head in the right direction for that," Chris said breathlessly.

"That's great, my darling Bella. I—" the sudden sound of the fire alarm on her end drowned her last words.

"Mom, what did you do?" I rushed to ask her.

"Oh gosh, the roast is done, I guess. Well, I'll talk to you later, my little puppies. Love you."

"Love you," Chris and I mumbled, dumbfounded when the line went dead.

"Well, she seems a little...eccentric...but I like her," Edward commented while Jasper and Emmett attempted to catch their breath.

"Did she just burn the roast?" Rosalie asked in disbelief.

"Probably the rest of the kitchen as well," Chris answered with a shrug.

"Are you sure you don't want to spend Christmas with us? Esme's cooking is much safer," Alice offered. Ever since the IDM decided to let people off campus, she'd been trying to convince us to stay.

The incident at the headquarters was apparently more important than our safety, so they called everyone back. All except for Ms. Carmina. Carlisle had said that she was the IDM's way of keeping an eye on us students and teachers to prevent any kind of corruption. Hopefully she would soon discover that Mr. Decour was a criminal. But every time we saw them in class or anywhere, it seemed like they were getting along great, so the chances that she'd find out the truth were pretty slim.

"You could come visit us over the holidays," I suggested.

"Don't say things like that, Bella," Rose warned.

"We invited her over once and now our mom never wants to see her again," Jasper added.

"I was just trying to make you breakfast," Alice defended herself with a pout.

"Yes, and you ruined our kitchen in the process," Rose replied.

"Where do you live anyway?" Chris asked her.

"Dad lives in Austin and Mom lives in Concord. We'll spend Christmas with Daddy this year."

"Mom's thinking of moving to New Jersey, though," Jasper added.

"What about you, Emmett? Where do you live?" I asked.

"Nashville!" Emmett answered with a proud grin.

"Wow, we really are all over the country."

"Yes, and you're all flying away in three days," Alice whined, "leaving me here all alone."

"Thanks a lot, Al," Dylan grumbled dryly.

"Alice, you're not all alone. You still have Edward and Dylan and all the other kids that aren't flying home over the holidays," Rose said to her.

"That's not helping."

"Oh, I know."

It took us hours to finally calm Alice's whining.

The next few days leading up to the holidays were pretty hectic. Most students went shopping for Christmas presents and tried to get their things together for for the vacation. Of course Alice made all of us go shopping as well, although she made a special plan for that. We were supposed to go shopping in pairs and had to switch partners every hour. She thought that system was brilliant because then it would be easier to get gifts for everyone without them finding out what it was. In reality, it was just horrible. When Jasper and Emmett were paired up, they somehow managed to get thrown out of a Potionery. When Chris was paired up with Dylan, she'd simply stalked off without him and ignored him as he ran after her, screaming random things. I was pretty sure they got into a fight again at the end because the whole campus heard them screaming at each other.

I actually came to enjoy shopping with Rose when I was partnered with her because she wasn't nearly as forceful as she was in Alice's presence. With Emmett, I ended up getting food in my hair, and with Jasper, I got stuck in a bookstore since we both started reading really good books and couldn't manage to find the will to stop. Shopping with Alice was a traumatic event for everyone except Jasper, but I had a sneaking suspicion that they didn't even go shopping. When I went with Chris, I had to listen to her constant complaining about Dylan, and in the end when I was finally alone with Edward, I was too tired to move an inch, so we just spent the hour in a small cafe, simply enjoying one another's presence.

For the last day before the holidays, Alice had planned to celebrate a "Pre-Christmas" as she called it. I thought it was just an excuse so she could open her presents a little early, and since Alice had big plans for that, Carlisle and Esme agreed to let us celebrate at their house.

When we entered the beautiful Cullen living room, which was literally the center of the entire house, we were all in awe.

There was a beautiful little Christmas tree beside the fireplace, mainly decorated with gold and red ornaments and tinsel. Actually, the whole living room was covered in reds and golds. Even the fire was spitting little golden sparks, and above our heads danced a few golden stars.

"Wow Alice, I'm impressed. I thought you would overdo it," Chris complimented her.

"She would have. That's why Mom decorates the house," Edward said.

"I wouldn't have overdone it," Alice protested.

"Oh yes, you would have. You decorated every room 'till there was no more space left. I had reindeer teddy's in my bed," Dylan complained.

"And bathmats with Santa on them," Edward continued.

"And the doorbell would only play Jingle Bells," Carlisle joined in as he walked in from the kitchen.

"And I will never forget that little reindeer sleigh with the tiny Santa in it that flew around the house the whole time. Santa was either laughing or singing Christmas songs and he never shut up," Esme added this time as she appeared behind Carlisle with a tray of delicious-looking cookies. Emmett was by her side in an instant.

"I guess we don't have enough cookies," Esme sighed and went back into the kitchen after Emmett snatched the tray right out of her hands.

"I'll help," I volunteered and followed after where Esme disappeared to.

"That's sweet of you, Bella. I wish Alice had the ability to actually help in the kitchen instead of blowing it up," Esme heaved a dramatic sigh.

"I heard that, Mom!" Alice shouted from the living room, causing Esme to release a soft laugh. "Come on, Chris, time to choose something for you to wear," I heard Alice say, drowning out the protest that came from Chris.

I grinned to myself, happy that I was smart enough to save myself before Alice got to me. The Christmas party she had in mind wasn't just that. She decided to make a Christmas/Pajama party out of it. I don't know how she got the boys to agree, but then again, there wasn't a single person in the world who could stop Alice once she had her mind set on an idea.

While Esme and I started mixing the dough, we heard the protests from upstairs. The boys, who had apparently moved the PlayStation to the downstairs television, chuckled at the whining and shrieking that came from upstairs.

"Alice, I'm not a freaking Playboy bunny. If you want to put a tail on someone, do it to yourself!" Chris yelled.

Apparently Rose was also unhappy with Alice for once, because a few minutes later, we heard her shout, "When I agreed to a pajama party, I didn't sign up for a lingerie festival! If I have to wear this, you will not see me leave this room!"

"Oh come on, it's cute and looks so Christmas-y," Alice argued.

"Yes, the see-through panties really give off the Christmas vibe," Chris laughed.

It went on and on like this and Carlisle — who was now seated on at the kitchen counter, watching as me and Esme filled the table with cookies — started to get a very worried expression on his face.

"Why in the world is my sixteen-year-old daughter dressing her friends up in lingerie? She shouldn't even own any," he said exasperatedly. It was the first time that I'd seen the worried father look on his face.

I fully agreed with him, though. It was dangerous to let Alice own such items.

"Oh Carlisle, calm down, you know how Alice is. It's not like we can stop her," Esme replied.

Carlisle nodded slowly but the worried expression didn't leave his face.

The look got even worse when Chris yelled, "Alice, can't you just go screw Jasper and leave us alone?"

In the living room, I could hear Emmett and Dylan teasing Jasper while Carlisle's face turned horrified.

"Did we ever talk to Jasper and Alice about their relationship?" he asked anxiously with wide, terrified eyes.

Esme walked over to him and put her arms around him. "Just go upstairs to your study, cast a muffling charm, and concentrate on something entirely different," she said softly to him.

The two of them looked so in love at that moment that I felt like I was intruding on their privacy by looking at them.

Carlisle sighed and nodded before he rose, kissed Esme once, and breezed out of the room.

"Mom, we need more cookies. Emmett's getting hungry," Edward said as he entered the kitchen. He reached for the tray, but Esme snatched it from his hands.

"If he's getting hungry, he shouldn't eat cookies," she advised.

"Mom, we already had dinner," Edward told her.

"Well then Bella and I will prepare a little snack." Esme went to the fridge and started pulling out different ingredients.

"Isn't she great?" Edward asked me with a brilliant smile on his face.

"Yes, she is," I answered truthfully and leaned against the kitchen counter.

Edward leaned closer to me and mumbled, "I really need something sweet and delicious right now."

My breath caught in my throat. Weren't we just talking about his mother?

His eyes flicked to mine quickly and I thought I saw something like surprise in them before a smug smile spread on his face.

"You know, it's really a shame that Alice didn't try to make you wear the Christmas lingerie," he said, leaning even closer. Our faces were only inches apart as he whispered those words.

My breathing still wasn't back to normal and I definitely felt like I was going to faint. Did he really have to do this?

The smug smile on his face grew even wider as I scrambled my mind for some kind of answer. "I simply can't resist," he added.

"I don't think Esme would appreciate you jumping me in her kitchen," I managed to choke out.

Edward looked at me in wonder before he pulled away suddenly. He waved around his hand, which now had a cookie in it and shook his head in mock disappointment. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Bella, such a dirty mind. When I said I couldn't resist, I wasn't referring to you in lingerie, I was talking about the cookies," he said. He laughed to himself as he left the kitchen while I glared at his retreating figure.

Esme cleared her throat behind me.

I turned slowly to see her standing there with an amused smile on her face. I looked down quickly, letting my hair hide my flaming red face.

"I never knew Edward was such a tease," she mused. "Bella, can you cut the cheese into small cubes for me, please? Alice and Rose love cheese and grape kabobs," she continued lightly.

While I did as Esme asked, she prepared sandwiches. We worked in silence for a few minutes.

It definitely wasn't comfortable for me.

"So, how are things going with you and Edward?" Esme asked after a while of quiet.

"Um, good, I guess," I answered her carefully.

"That's good to hear. It's been what...a little over a month already?"

"Yes."

"I'm so happy that he's found someone. He was like the G-rated version of Dylan," Esme sighed. "The only one who wasn't so troublesome in that particular area was Alice. She met Jasper on her first day of school here and after three months, they were already inseparable. It was so cute when they would walk around holding hands." Esme looked like she was lost in memories. After a moment, though, she seemed to return to reality. "Oh, sorry, I guess I was reminiscing just a little too much," she said with a soft, slightly embarrassed chuckle.

"It's okay," I replied, laughing a little.

Esme looked at me with a happy expression and suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace. "I'm so happy that Laurent found you and Chris. You two fixed my boys," Esme gushed.

Just then, Dylan and Edward decided to enter the kitchen.

"What's going on in here? Mom, I thought you were making food," Dylan complained.

Esme let me go and reached for a dishtowel to smack Dylan with. "I'm not your slave, young man," she scolded playfully.

"Mom, I didn't know you were so unhappy with us," Edward commented.

"What? I'm not unhappy with you. The two of you manage to drive me crazy every now and then, but that's not the same as being unhappy."

"And what was this talk about 'fixing your two boys'? I didn't even know there was anything broken," Edward continued teasingly.

"There isn't. You know what I meant."

"Right. I'll just steal Bella so she can fix me up a little more," Edward laughed and pulled me along.

"You better not let her fix you all the way up," Esme warned. "I'm not ready for grandchildren."

Dylan started roaring with laughter.

Blushing once again, I quickly left the kitchen with Edward.

Dylan came in just a second later with the sandwiches Esme made as well as the kebabs. He was still laughing to himself.

"What's so funny?" Emmett asked excitedly while Jasper looked at me with a questioning expression.

"Oh, Esme just—"

"I'll be upstairs," I burst out quickly, snatching the plate from Dylan's hands before he continued to talk. I was just upstairs when I heard Emmett's booming laugh.

"Bella! How nice of you to join us," Alice greeted when I entered her room.

There was a lot of pink, though not as much as I'd feared. Her walls were light pink and so was the carpet, which was also incredibly fluffy. Her bed had white and pink sheets on it as well, but the rest was mostly white.

Alice was sitting on her bed in a light pink babydoll style thigh-high lingerie dress with lace trim along the bottom hem, and Rose had just exited the closet when I entered the room. The sliding door was wide open, revealing a closet that was almost as big as Alice's room.

"I don't care what you say, Alice, I'm wearing this," Rose grumbled. She was wearing a pair of tight dark blue yoga shorts with a light blue tank top.

"But that's boring," Alice whined.

"I don't care, it's comfortable," Rose retorted and threw herself on the bed.

Alice pouted. Just then, Chris walked out of the bathroom.

"Alice, I want you to know that I'm only wearing this because I have black shorts underneath," Chris told her and let herself drop next to Rose on the bed. She was wearing a short white dress-style piece of lingerie with slight ruffles along both the neckline and the bottom hem.

"I don't care. Now Bella, wear this," Alice instructed and threw something at me. It was a short turquoise blue halter dress with white polka dots. "And you'll probably want shorts too," Alice sighed and threw a pair of matching blue shorts at me. "Now get dressed."

Ten minutes later, we were all laying on Alice's bed and somehow managed not to fall off, although we were a bit tangled. Rose had put a pillow on my feet so she could lay her head there, while Chris' head was resting on my stomach and Alice's legs were draped diagonally over Chris' stomach and thighs. It was a little strange.

"Esme told me that you and Jasper have been together ever since you met," I said randomly, breaking the momentary silence.

I heard Rose giggle while Alice let out a sigh.

"It wasn't exactly like that. It was because of Rosalie that he was always around. The two of them were always together back then. I used to think they were twins," Alice said.

"That'd be nice," Rose said. "Then he wouldn't always tease me because he's older. It's only nine months for God's sake."

"You have a nine month age difference?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. It's kind of strange, right?"

"Only a little," I answered.

"Anyway, I was telling a story here. So, Rose and I met on our first day here, simply because she was seated next to me. We didn't get along until we discovered that we were wearing the same shoes."

"Ah yes," Rose sighed.

"And for our lunch break, Jasper just went along with us. Ever since then, we always hung out. But I was actually only friends with Rose. And then came Valentine's Day. Jasper asked me to be his valentine, even though he got hundreds of cards and chocolate from girls in our class. I said yes and since then, we were something like a couple. Although we only really held hands every now and then for the first two years. And then on my thirteenth birthday, he forgot to bring my present to the party, so he kissed me instead," Alice sighed dreamily.

"How cute," Chris muttered dryly.

Alice hit her lightly. "It is cute," she insisted.

"Well, since we're already on the topic...how did you end up with Emmett?" I asked Rose.

Alice groaned and Rosalie laughed.

"I hope it's really funny," Chris said.

"It's not, it's annoying," complained Alice.

"Whatever. Until last year, Emmett played football and I was a cheerleader—"

"Why only until last year?" I asked.

"Because the team and the squad were cancelled this year," Alice said before adding, "There was no one to coach."

"Yeah. Anyway, I was only on the squad because of Emmett, but the idiot didn't even notice me. He was just hanging out with his football buddies and threw one party after another for the Green house kids. It was really hard to get his attention. First, I went to every football game, then I joined the cheerleading squad, and I even snuck into his parties, though I was in the Blue house back then. Not easy, not easy at all," Rose laughed. "I even let Edward try to talk Emmett into dating me, but he didn't know who I was which just made me really upset. I dated his best friend Royce, then, and about a week later, both of them somehow landed in the hospital. When I went to visit Royce, he said he didn't want to see me anymore because it was my fault that Emmett beat him up. Apparently Emmett _had_ noticed me, but he didn't know that my name was Rosalie and not Rose, and that's why he didn't know who Edward was talking about when he talked to him. Ever since then, we've lived happily."

"Where's the annoying part?" Chris asked.

"It was annoying to be her friend at the time," Alice explained.

"Well, now it's annoying to be your friend," Rose retorted.

A pillow suddenly landed on Rosalie's face. Judging by the giggling that was coming from Alice, I guessed that she'd thrown it.

"Come on, guys, no pillow fights. You suck at them anyway," Chris groaned.

"Shut up!" both Rose and Alice said as they each threw a pillow at Chris.

"Nevermind what I said," Chris mumbled, grabbing one of the pillows. It only took a few seconds for them to start hitting each other as I somehow managed to crawl off the bed.

"I really don't know why you guys like pillow fights so much," I sighed.

"You could take part, then you would know," Alice answered and threw a pillow at me. She definitely had too many of those.

I sighed and shook my head at them. This was just too cliché.

The door opened then, just when the three idiots on the bed had managed to make the whole pillow fight look more like a photoshoot for Playboy magazine.

"I told you they'd be in the middle of a pillow fight. That's what girls always do at pajama parties," Emmett said, shaking his head.

All of the guys were wearing pajama pants and loose T-shirts. And all of them were watching the scene in front of them.

Edward shook his head at the three girls and decided to end it by asking a simple question. "Alice, didn't you want to open presents?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Alice jumped off the bed and squeezed herself through the door.

"Huh, I guess the one who started it just ran away," Chris said and let go of the pillow she was holding. She hopped off the bed, shook her hair, and went downstairs with Jasper.

The rest of us followed.

It seemed like Alice had somehow managed to maneuver all the presents underneath of the Christmas tree. She was sitting next to it, vibrating with excitement.

"We should do pajama parties more often," Edward whispered in my ear when he appeared suddenly behind me.

I shivered. He noticed that and laughed quietly. It seemed he enjoyed the reactions he got out of me. I huffed and flicked my hair over my shoulder in a very Chris-like manner. And that's when the impossible happened.

Edward's breath caught.

I grinned to myself, happy to coax this reaction from him and kept it in mind before I settled on the couch next to Rose.

"Can I open the first one?" Alice asked, sounding much like a little child.

Everyone mumbled their agreements. Alice squealed happily and grabbed one of the presents covered in Christmas wrapping paper.

Alice had also made up a rule for the presents. We weren't supposed to write who it was from, so the person who opened it had to guess who had given it to them.

Alice ripped the wrapping paper off the package and soon she held a pink specs case in her small hands.

"I don't need glasses anymore," Alice whined and shot a dirty look at Edward, who was chuckling to himself.

"You used to wear glasses?" Chris asked, sounding like she was suppressing laughter.

"Just for two years and I only needed them for reading," Alice answered with a pout. She looked like she was going to throw the case away. "I don't like this present, Edward," she whined.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Just open it, already."

Alice obliged but didn't look much happier when she held the pink glasses in her hand.

"Put them on," Edward instructed.

Alice did as he said and immediately a huge smile lit her face. "You're all dressed so pretty and it's all so pink and sparkly!" Alice squealed.

"God Alice, your world is awful," Edward complained and looked disgusted. A second later, he laughed.

"Don't you dare tell anyone," Alice warned him and Edward made a big show of locking his mouth and throwing away the key.

"Would someone please explain to us what you are talking about?" Rose asked.

"The glasses make the world look how you want it to look. It's a very complicated illusion spell, that's why they are so rare," Edward explained, despite his locked mouth.

"So pretty," sang Alice.

"I guess Alice will be out for a while. My turn," Emmett said and grabbed one of the presents addressed to him. Emmett ripped it open just like Alice had before. "Awesome! _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ and _Halo: Reach_. I love you, baby." Emmett was ecstatic as he pulled Rose into a tight hug.

"It's not from me, Em," she told him, her voice slightly muffled from her face being buried in his broad chest.

"It's not?" he asked in wonder. He looked at each of us with a frown. "Edward's not cool enough to buy this, and Bella doesn't know anything about video games. Alice would've bought something like _Super Mario Galaxy_ and Dylan only buys games that he can beat me at." You could practically see the thinking process in Emmett's head. He was looking at Jasper, but Jasper merely shook his head.

"Chris?" everyone asked in surprise.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"How did you even know I wanted these?" Emmett asked.

"You mentioned it when I totally smoked your ass last week, remember?" Chris smiled smugly.

"You won't win at these games even if you are the awesomest friend ever for buying them," Emmett said as he hugged Chris.

"I find that offensive. I got you something nice, too," Alice complained.

"We'll see about that, pixie."

Alice chose to ignore him. "Who's next?" she asked.

"Just toss one over here," Rose said lazily.

Alice did as she was asked.

Rose unwrapped a small jewellery box. She opened it and in it lay a beautiful silver bracelet with a heart-shaped pendant. It looked like a diamond.

"Emmett, you didn't seriously get me a diamond, did you?" Rose asked breathlessly as she looked at the heart. If it was a diamond, it was a _very_ big one.

Emmett chuckled. "No, I didn't. You'll have to wait a little while for that. It's a mood stone. It changes colors with your mood. It's clear now because you haven't put it on yet." He reached for it and put it on Rosalie's wrist. The pendant turned some kind of pinkish red.

Rose read the inside of the box and smiled before she leaned over and kissed Emmett.

"Ugh, you guys, cut it out!" Dylan shouted in disgust and grabbed one of his presents. "Oh, a painting set. I don't think I've ever had universal color," he said, surprised when he unwrapped it.

"What's a universal color?" I asked.

"It's whatever color you want it to be," he explained.

"Your guess?" Alice pressed.

Dylan looked thoughtful. "Edward?"

"Nope," Edward answered, shaking his head a little.

"I didn't even know that you paint," I threw in for his sake.

"He keeps it a secret because it doesn't 'suit his reputation'," Rose told me.

"Alice? Emmett? Jasper? Rose?" he asked one after another, but each of them shook their heads. "Chris?" Dylan asked in complete and utter disbelief.

As a matter of fact, all of us looked at her in confusion.

"What? I knew that he painted," Chris defended herself.

"Is anyone else surprised that Chris seems to be a good friend who actually pays attention to what we say?" Emmett asked.

"Everyone except Bella," Jasper answered.

"Can I open mine next?" Chris asked impatiently. She didn't seem to be pleased for some reason. Alice handed her a package and she unwrapped it quickly. "Seasons 1 to 5 of _Supernatural?_ How great is that?" Chris' mood seemed to be back to normal. "Well, I know it's not from Bella, and since Alice didn't even listen when I said I watched it with Damon, I know it's not from her, so I'll just guess and say it's from Rose."

"You're good," Rose said with a grin.

"I know, I know. Thanks, my sexy candy kitten."

"Sexy candy kitten?" Edward asked slowly.

Rose and Chris started giggling.

"Ugh, I don't even want to know."

"Okay, here Bella." Alice threw a gift at me. Instead of trying to catch it, I instinctively flinched back and waited for it to hit my head.

It never happened, though, because Edward caught it before it had the chance to touch me. He handed it to me while the others let out giggles and chuckles.

I unwrapped a copy of _Wuthering Heights_. I smiled at that. I'd forgotten my copy back at home, which had been rather tragic for me since it was my absolute favorite book. There were only three people that knew I liked the book and two that would actually buy it since Chris thought it was pointless to read a book over and over again. Seeing the interested look on Edwards face when he examined the book and I instantly knew it was down to one person.

"Thanks Jasper," I said, beaming at him. I'd told him on our shopping trip that this was my favorite book and that I'd left it at home.

Jasper smiled back at me. "You're welcome. By the way, it glows in the dark so you can still read it when you don't have light."

The next to open a present was Edward. He immediately guessed that it was from me. I'd gotten him a notebook for his music compositions. It printed the notes itself when you played them and to delete them, you simply had to tell the book. Edward had told me that he plays piano every once in a while and that he writes his own songs, so this seemed like a rather fitting present. Apparently Edward thought so too because he thanked me with a forceful kiss.

Jasper was the only one who hadn't opened a gift yet, and now it was his turn. Alice had made him a Civil War Confederates uniform. She explained how many documentaries and films she had to watch on the Civil War just to get it right.

After the first round, we all just randomly started opening presents, guessing loudly who they were from while answering the others at the same time.

I got a potion set from Alice.

"The blue one is a Truth Potion, the green one is for Depoisoning, although it doesn't work for every poison, and the third is Brewed Passion," Alice explained after I guessed that the gift was from her. It wasn't hard to tell when I saw that it was in a pink box.

"Passion? What do I need passion for?" I asked in disbelief and confusion.

"How would I know? You and Edward grow old together and you have no real passion in your relationship anymore or whatever. I don't know."

I had to roll my eyes at her.

From Rose, I got a magical Snuffle. It was a little fluffy round creature that could fly.

"It's like a pet in a way," Rose explained. "You need to feed it and it sleeps, but it's also something like a personal assistant. They like to help their owners and keep them happy, it's what they mostly do. To awaken it, you have to tap it with your wand."

"Are we allowed to keep pets in our rooms?" I asked.

"Only the ones that are sold on campus," Rose replied.

I looked at the Snuffle in it's small cage. It looked like an over-sized baby blue cotton ball, but it wasn't big. It looked like it was smaller than a soccer ball, but bigger than a handful.

"You shouldn't wake it yet, since you can't take it along," Rose advised.

From Emmett, I got a simple silver ring that fit my pinkie finger. It was a lie detector that turned red when I was being lied to. Chris tried it out right away, telling me one lie after another, and it stayed red until she stopped talking.

Before I opened my present from Chris, I opened the one I got from Dylan.

"You got me five packs of Tic Tac's?" I asked in disbelief.

"Not Tic Tacs," he said. "These are Blockers. The red ones are Pheromone Blockers and the green ones are Psych Blockers. They block pheromone and psych gifts."

After that, I opened Chris' gift.

It looked like a snowball, but it wasn't. There was a beach inside of it and a house at the beach. When I shook it, little waves erupted in the tiny ocean and I could've sworn that there were little people in there.

"I got it at a Magic Art shop, they customized it for me. Remember when Mom and Dad took us to that little cottage in Jacksonville? That's the cottage there, and you can see Mom and Dad sitting on the terrace. You're swimming there and I'm laying on the beach. We start moving around in there when you shake it, and it'll last for about five minutes."

"How did the shop people manage that?" I asked curiously.

"He cast a spell to see the memory of it in my head."

I launched myself at my sister and hugged her fiercely while Alice and Rose 'awed' at us and eyed the "beach ball" curiously.

The last present for me to open was one from Edward. He'd gotten me a beautiful white wooden music box. The song it played was unknown to me, but the melodies were simply astonishing - it was a beautiful composition.

"I wrote it for you," Edward told me lightly.

"You wrote this?"

"Just for you. I was inspired when I watched you sleep."

"It's beautiful."

"Yes, you are," he said, gazing at me intently.

"Yeah, this is cute and all, but how could you get me a book, Bella? Even if it is about fashion and the cover glitters, it doesn't mean I'll read it," Alice interrupted.

I had indeed gotten her a book. The cover read "_Fashion Is My Life_" and it was covered in glitter and little sketches of clothes.

"It's not a book to read, Alice. It's a notebook," I told her, laughing softly.

"Oh, nevermind then. I love you, Bella."

The unwrapping of presents was highly entertaining.

Emmett received a pair of socks from Alice. At first, he didn't look too thrilled, but Alice insisted that he try them on and as soon as he did, his face turned into a beaming smile.

Apparently the socks warmed his feet.

Emmett had gotten Alice a set of pixie wings, only a bit bigger so they'd suit a human. They looked like normal costume wings, but when Alice put them on, she suddenly started floating around the room.

"You have to concentrate to fly properly with them," Emmett told her.

Unfortunately, Alice wasn't able to manage it, and soon we all discovered that she was wearing pink panties. After a while, Edward and Jasper finally caught her and pulled her back to the ground. Alice was a little shaky on her legs after that.

It went on and on like this with magical things like that.

I didn't even know that it had taken hours for everything until Emmett suddenly said, "It's already passed twelve. I think we should go to bed, we have to get up early tomorrow."

We all agreed with him and headed upstairs. The guys all slept in Edward's room, wishing us a goodnight from across the corridor when we entered Alice's room.

Esme had set up real pajama party worthy beds for us. Well, not really beds. The floor beside Alice's bed was covered with a giant air mattress that was big enough for us and the boys together. And all of that was covered in tons of pillows and blankets.

"Your mom is an angel, did you know that?" Chris said as she threw herself on the mattress.

"Yes, I know," Alice answered with a giggle. She took off the necklace that Jasper had given her and placed it carefully on her dresser.

Chris was sitting there, inspecting something in her hand.

"What are you looking at?" Rose asked her curiously.

"The present I got from Dylan," she mumbled in reply.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A necklace." She held it up. It was a beautiful, yet simple silver necklace with a stone pendant on the end.

"What kind of stone is it?" Alice asked.

Chris shrugged. "It's dark purple."

"Did he tell you what it is?"

"He only whispered something that sounded like 'magic lapidem'."

Both Rosalie and Alice gasped loudly.

"What? What does it mean?" I asked immediately.

"It means 'magic stone' and it's the spell for a gift stone."

Chris and I looked at them with the same questioning expression but they didn't seem to notice. Instead, they took the stone out of Chris' hands.

"I can't believe he did that! It's almost like a proposal," Alice squealed excitedly.

Chris looked horrified.

"So his gift stone is dark purple. I wonder what mine would look like," Rose mused.

"I bet mine would be pink."

"You want everything to be pink, don't you?"

"No, sometimes—"

"Guys! Would you please explain what a gift stone is."

The two of them turned to us.

"Well, a gift stone is a stone with a gift in it," Alice started.

"Informative," Chris mumbled sarcastically, but Alice motioned for her to be quiet.

"It's quite hard to make one. You see, you have to push your talent out of your body until it takes on the form of a stone. That's a really hard thing to accomplish and also very tiring."

"In our world, this is mostly given when you propose or at least commit yourself to another person in some way because it's a really big deal. You're holding a part of Dylan's gift in your hand. It's like cutting out a piece of your heart and giving it to someone," Rose added.

"With this stone, you can use his talent, although it won't be quite as effective. The stone is obviously not as powerful as the person it belongs to, but yours is pretty big so it should work for a while before it needs to charge energy again. I wonder which talent he put in there," Alice finished thoughtfully.

"Probably the teleportation," Rose said.

"Or maybe both."

"So wait, you're telling me that he gave me a piece of him?" Chris asked.

"Yes," Alice and Rose answered simultaneously.

"Oh God."

"Why 'oh God'? It's cute and it's romantic. In this world, every girl secretly hopes to get one from the man of her dreams," Alice said dreamily. "Dad gave his to Mom on their first anniversary. That's why she wears two rings. One is the gift ring and the other is her wedding ring."

"Can I give it back?" Chris asked.

"Give it back? Are you freaking insane? The guy practically just told you that he loves you and you want to _give it back?_" Rose screeched. "You can't give it back. I mean you could, but this part is ripped out and it won't just go back inside."

"Basically, yes. He's less powerful now than he was before. Also, it's likely that he can never make another magic stone again."

"What?"

"It takes great skill and a gift is part of your body and soul. You can't just randomly rip parents out. Some people manage a second stone, but that is very rare and they get really weak from it. The gift gets unstable."

Chris looked thoughtfully at the stone in her hand.

**Chris POV**

I looked thoughtfully at the stone laying in my hand. I could practically feel the energy radiating off of it. There was no way that I could wear this necklace. It didn't feel right.

Why in the world did he have to do that? Does he even know what he's done? Or does he just think that I'd be so thankful for this stone that I'd just agree to be his girlfriend?

It's not like we're exactly on good terms right now. I remembered our most recent fight all too well.

_"Seriously Chris, don't you think it's a bit childish to just walk away?" Dylan called after me._

_I ignored him. I had been ignoring him the past few weeks already. I spent as much time as possible with Damon and talked as little as I could to Dylan._

_I wasn't sure why I acted like that, but I did. It made me feel safe._

_"And ignoring me doesn't help at all. I'm just going to keep on talking until you answer."_

_It was a rather difficult task to concentrate on shopping when there was a guy following you around, shouting random things at you._

_"Who do you think you are? You think you can just waltz into my life and ruin everything then expect me to...to...to just go back to my old ways? Do you even know how many girls I'd been with before you came along?" For some reason, he sounded angry now._

_"I don't wanna know. For all I care, you can go back to screwing them," I hissed at him._

_"Oh, so now she talks."_

_"Shut up."_

_"Do you realize that all you ever do is tell me to shut up? Why can't you just be quiet for once and let me talk?"_

_"Because everything you say is either stupid, annoying, or both."_

_"And you think that what you say makes sense? Do you honestly think that people want to hear what you say?"_

_"I don't care what people want. I just—"_

_"That's right. You don't care about others, you only care about yourself. No one else matters."_

_"You do realize that this argument has no point, right? If you want to tell me what a horrible person I am and how much better every other girl is, then you have succeeded and you can shut up now."_

_"But that's not what I was trying to say to you! I had a point, but just like always, you made me go off track. Our conversations always end somewhere I didn't plan for them to end. You could just listen and keep your mouth shut for once until I'm done talking."_

_"Why would I? All you ever do is tease me, annoy me, insult me, and embarrass me. I really don't need to listen to that."_

_"Of course I do because there's no other way to talk to you. You don't listen to anything else I say, you don't care—"_

_"Just get to the God damn point!"_

_"See? You're interrupting me again and that is exactly my point. It's impossible to have a serious conversation with you, so why should I even bother trying when I already know it's not going to happen?"_

_"Are you done?"_

_Dylan roared in frustration. He was still walking behind me and since our conversation hadn't exactly been quiet, people started staring and whispering._

_I stopped and turned abruptly to face Dylan. "If I'm such a pain in the ass, why are you so desperate to have me for yourself?" I asked him almost menacingly._

_"I'm starting to wonder that myself," Dylan replied._

_I glared at him. "You know what? Just leave me alone!" I said after a moment before I stalked off again, but I heard Dylan coming after me instantly._

_"The problem is that I can't. Do you honestly think that I like to be this frustrated? Don't you think I kind of liked my life before you came into it?" Dylan was getting worked up again. "I can't look at another girl without comparing her to you. I can't sleep at night because I'm either dreaming about you dead or about you torturing me until I literally cry blood. I definitely didn't choose this, it just happened. The only thing wrong about this is_you_, because you don't care. I don't enjoy this game of hot and cold. You can't hit on me first and then be all cold and hating toward me and then kiss me, only to push me away again so you can come back and kiss me again and God knows what would have happened if Emmett hadn't walked in."_

_"Well if you would just leave me alone like I want you to, then it wouldn't be like that. You could try and distract yourself with some other girls. I heard that there are quite a few around here that enjoy your presence."_

_"Did you even listen to a thing I just said?" he asked in disbelief._

_"Well I definitely heard you talking and I think I caught the words 'you', 'the', and 'Emmett'."_

_"You're not taking this seriously at all, are you?"_

_"What is serious about this situation? A nineteen-year-old boy complaining to a sixteen-year-old girl that he can't date other girls because of her. It's hardly serious to me. In fact, it's rather comical."_

_"You know what? That's probably the problem. It's not that you don't care, but that you're too childish. In your mind, everything is just some kind of game and you don't want to be pinned down on anything. No responsibilities or anything of the sort. You just want the whole world to work how you want it and if things get too serious, you drop out."_

_I opened my mouth to retort but closed it again._

_In my mind, I knew that he was partly right. I honestly didn't like any kind of responsibility, nor did I like to be tied down to anything or anyone except for Bella. But that was not because I was too childish._

_"I'm not childish," I replied and started to stare Dylan down._

_He just crossed his arms, not looking at all impressed. "Yes, you are. None of this is really even your fault, it's mine for expecting too much out of you," his voice was low now, so that the people around us could no longer hear him. "It's amazing how looks can change ones point of view. I was right in the beginning when I called you a kid because that's what you are, Chris, just a kid. Maybe I should wait for you to grow up." And with that, he left me standing there._

_He didn't even turn around as he walked away._

"Chris, wake up," I heard Bella's voice faintly in my ear.

"No, I want to sleep, I'm tired," I whined and rolled over.

"Just stop complaining and hurry up," my sister replied and I heard the voices of Rose and Alice in the background. "Come on or we'll miss our flight," Bella tried again when I showed no signs of movement.

"Is that a bad thing?" I slurred tiredly.

"Chris!" Bella groaned.

A sudden feeling of déjà vu washed over me. A moment later, I realized why. Bella and I had the same conversation when we were back home in Phoenix, getting ready to fly here.

I dragged myself off the bed and yawned as I stretched.

"I picked out an outfit for you," Alice told me excitedly, pointing to her dresser where there was indeed an outfit laying out for me.

"We'll be downstairs, alright?" Bella said.

I nodded and the three of them left the room.

Alice had chosen a long blue shirt with black sleeves with a pair of leggings for me to wear. I dressed quickly, brushed my teeth and hair, and then gathered my things before going downstairs.

Everyone was sitting in the living room. Well, not everyone. The only boy who was there was Edward. The others were no where to be seen.

"Chris, would _you_ like some breakfast?" Esme asked.

I shook my head and Esme looked a little annoyed. I figured I wasn't the only one who had declined.

"Do you have all your things?" Rose asked, looking at the purse in my hand.

I nodded. I didn't really feel up to talking today.

"Emmett are you sure you didn't forget anything?" I heard Carlisle ask and it sounded like he'd asked that for the millionth time already.

"Positive, Mr. C."

"I hope you're right 'cause I am not beaming into your room again," Dylan said.

"Okay. The school bus will pick you up at the corner in about twenty minutes, so all of you better hurry up with whatever it is you still have to do," Carlisle said while he walked down the stairs with Emmett, Jasper, and Dylan following him.

Dylan's gaze swept over me and I saw how his eyes lingered on my neck for a little longer. I looked down only to see the necklace he gave me there. I didn't recall putting it on.

"What a beautiful necklace, Chris. Was it a gift?" Esme asked me.

"Um, yeah.

"Such a beautiful stone. Who gave it to you?"

"Um, Mom, I'm starving, can you make me a sandwich or something?" Dylan suddenly said.

Esme turned her attention to him. "I don't know how often I have to tell you that I am not your slave. Go do it yourself."

Dylan nodded eagerly while Edward watched him suspiciously.

"I'll go help him," he said and gently moved Bella from his lap to vanish into the kitchen as well.

The rest of us stayed in the living room, chatting with one another. Alice promised Bella to watch her Snuffle even though it hadn't been awakened yet, but she still couldn't really take it will her.

"Dylan, are you insane? Do you even realize what you've done?" Edward suddenly yelled.

I flinched, as did everybody else.

I knew what this was about and my hand instinctively flew to my necklace.

"Yes, I'm aware, thank you very much," was Dylan's reply.

"This is reckless. You may think so now, but it can change. What do you think Mom is going to say about all of this?"

"Boys, what's going on?" Carlisle asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Talk to your son!" Edward advised and stomped out of the where Carlisle had just gone.

"Edward, what's wrong?" Esme asked him but he didn't answer.

Instead, he looked at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I'm going to miss you guys so much," Alice sniffled as she hugged us to death.

The Cullens were seeing us off before the bus came to pick us up.

"Alice, we'll only be gone for three weeks. It's hardly the end of the world," Bella told her but smiled sadly anyway. She then turned to Edward to hug him. In return, he kissed her forehead lightly.

"Don't do anything foolish," he said to her, but cast a sideways glance at Dylan who seemed to be lost deep in his thoughts.

I sighed. For some reason, I just knew that he would get in trouble for giving me this stone, and I wanted to return it to him so badly. Not because I didn't like it or want it, but because to me, it felt like a heavy weight.

A mini bus that had the school's logo printed on the side came to a half in front of us.

"McCarty, Hale, Swan?" the guy in the driver's seat asked.

"That's us," Rose answered and waved at the Cullen family before getting on the bus.

A few other buses, some of them bigger, passed us and the gates that closed our campus off from the rest of Forks and the world opened.

We all waved one last time before we were sitting on the bus. Rose and Emmett sat behind us while Jasper was sitting between Bella and I.

"You know what? I'm already excited to come back from the vacation," Jasper said after riding in silence for a while.

"Because of Alice?" Rose asked him dryly.

"Well, that too, but I was referring to the classification classes. The school far is going to be in May, which isn't all that far from now, and we'll finally be taking part in the planning and everything."

"Seriously, it really is stressful, although it is better than being some kind of servant like the junior department," Emmett said.

"I hope Mom doesn't really turn up. It might not end well," Rose yawned.

"It definitely won't," Jasper agreed. "But we'll just have to deal with that."

The rest of the drive, the others went on and on about the fair, but I didn't bother to listen. I was just staring out the window, watching as the scenery passed us by.

"Hey Chris, are you alright?" Jasper asked after a while as he nudged me in the side.

Instead of answering, I released a sigh.

"What's wrong with her?" Jasper asked Bella.

"I don't know. I'm not getting any more emotions from her than you are," Bella answered.

After that, I droned them out again until we arrived at the airport.

The bus driver and the boys took care of our luggage while Bella and Rose decided that we should get a bite to eat.

"Seriously Chris, what's wrong with you?" Bella asked me when I completely ignored the muffin she was waving in front of my face. She sounded both concerned and annoyed.

I felt my eyes start to burn and my bottom lip start to tremble. "I don't know," I choked out, letting my shoulders slump. "He's just such an idiot, you know. It's completely senseless to give me this stone when he just told me that I wasn't mature enough." By now, I could feel fat, salty tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I should've known this was about Dylan," Bella mumbled with a sigh as she led me somewhere to sit. "Okay, now tell me exactly what the problem is," Bella said as she kneeled in front of me with Rose behind her.

"I just said I don't know. I just feel crappy because he made this stone for me. And I know that Esme won't be happy about her song giving something as precious as this to some girl who isn't even being nice to her son."

"You really shouldn't be worried about Esme. I'm sure she isn't going to be that upset," Bella soothed.

"But still, he just gave me a part of himself and I don't know what to do with it. I'm not the one he should have given it to, and now I have to carry this around."

Rose let out a sigh and sat down beside me. "You know what your problem is? You are in love but you're just too scared to admit it. And it's okay to be scared because usually people don't just fall in love, but you have to get a grip on yourself. First of all, nobody can blame you for Dylan's actions, and secondly, as soon as we're back on campus, you will grow a pair and talk to Dylan. Simple as that," Rose told me in a strict manner.

"But—"

"No buts. Do you know how hypocritical you're being? You go and kick Edward's ass because he didn't get his move on, yet you sit here being all whiny and shit because of practically the same thing. You and Edward should get matching shirts or something."

I looked dumbfoundedly at Rose, not really knowing how to reply to that.

"Hey girls, we have fifteen minutes before I gotta leave you," Emmett announced as he and Jasper approached. Then he stopped and stared at me. "Chris, are you crying?"

"Yes. Freaking happy tears. I can finally go home into the sun again. Do you know how I suffered without the Arizona sun?"

Emmett seemed to buy that because he simply rolled his eyes at me while Jasper eyed me in suspicion.

After I went to wash my face in the ladies room, we all just wandered around the airport, occasionally running into our fellow students.

"Okay guys, my flight will be off soon," Emmett said after a little while. He pulled all of us into a group bear hug, except for Rose. He was oddly gentle with her, which made me wonder if he squeezed the rest of us on purpose.

"We should board our plane soon too," Jasper said to Rose when Emmett was out of sight.

"I know, I know." She turned to look at me and Bella. "God I'm gonna miss you guys. Three whole weeks without any craziness or awkwardness," Rose sighed dramatically.

"I think you'll survive," I told her.

"I hope so. Otherwise, my spirit will haunt you."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Bye bye, my precious chocolate puppy," she said to me and pulled me into a hug. "And remember what I told you," she whispered softly enough so only I could hear.

"What is it with you two and strange nicknames?" Jasper asked.

"Aw, are you jealous? Don't worry, you're my favorite sweaty steak monkey," Rose said to him while I giggled.

"I guess I'll never know," Jasper sighed, shaking his head.

"Ah Jasper, you really shouldn't even try to understand things like that," I advised him as I gave him a hug.

After Bella had hugged both of them as well, they started to leave.

"Well, we'll see each other in three weeks, right? It's amazing how much I love ya'll already even though we just met a few months ago," Rose called over her shoulder as she and Jasper walked off.

"Shall we go now too? Otherwise the best seats will be gone," I said to Bella.

"Sure."

As soon as we were seated on the plane, I dozed off. I hadn't even noticed how tired I was until then.

"Chris, are you hungry?" I heard Bella ask me right when I was in the middle of a very strange dream.

"if they're trying to serve pasta again, I think I'll pass."

"No, it's pizza and it's edible."

"Do you think Mom cooked for us?" I mumbled, still half asleep.

"She mentioned something like that yesterday."

I groaned and opened my eyes to steal a slice of pizza from the plate in front of Bella.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"My baby girls!" Mom squeaked so loud that half of the airport stopped to stare at her.

We had just gotten off the plane and retrieved out luggage when she spotted us and started squealing like a crazy fangirl.

Dad was standing next to her, attempting to calm her down to no avail.

"You know what?" Bella whispered to me.

"What?"

"I think Mom and Alice would get along really well."

"I think you're right."

"I missed you two so much!" Mom cried and skipped toward us to pull us both into a fatally tight hug.

"Dad, help us!" I gasped.

"Renée, if you squeeze them to death, you're going to miss them even more," Dad said as he attempted to pry Mom away from us.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy," Mom choked out.

"Aw, come on, Mom, not the happy tears," Bella groaned.

"I just can't help it."

"Come on, girls. Give me your luggage and we'll head home." Dad reached for our suitcases and led us to the car.

"We've got a little surprise for you," Dad told us on our way to the car.

"I hope it's not Mom's cooking," I mumbled.

"I heard that, Chris!"

I shrugged.

"Get in the car," Dad sighed after he'd put our suitcases in the trunk.

Before we even had the chance to open the door, it opened on it's own and Raven jumped out.

"Raven!" Bella and I squealed simultaneously, followed by a session of the three of us jumping up and down whilst squealing.

"Girls! Try to be more civilized," Dad said with a chuckle.

"Sorry Charlie," we all answered together, earning an appointed look from Dad before he got into the car.

We quickly scrambled into the car as well. It was incredibly hot inside, but I didn't complain. It felt like home.

"Raven, why did you dye your hair again?" Bella asked.

"Why not? I've always wanted to have green streaks."

"That's what you said when you got pink streaks."

"Because it's true. Anyway, don't you want to tell me about your school? I mean, you've barely told me anything, especially you, Chris. I got a total of two emails from you. Oh, and I Googled your school once but the website has apparently been cancelled. I find that really weird. Oh, oh, oh! Did you know that Samantha Robins is pregnant? I couldn't believe it when I heard it, but I saw her at the mall last week and she has gotten pretty big. I totally laughed at that. And Tyler has a girlfriend now, who kind of looks like Bella only not nearly as pretty. I swear he even calls her Bella sometimes. It's pretty sick. And did you hear about that—" she went on and on like that for the entire duration of our trip back to our house, hardly even letting Bella or me say anything. I started to get the feeling that we just naturally attracted hyperactive people.

Raven stayed for dinner at our house, mostly because she felt sorry for us and wanted to be a good friend and suffer along with us. To everyone's surprise, Mom had managed to make a pretty decent mashed potato, but judging by her expression when we asked her how she accomplished that, it seemed like mashed potatoes hadn't even been her plan.

After dinner, Rave sat with us in our room and kept bombarding us with gossip and such about our former classmates. She told us everything about her new school and how hard it was for her to find friends that suited her personality, and that the people she hung out with weren't nearly as much fun as Bella and I.

When she let, Bella and I started to get ready for bed. Although I'd slept on the plane, I was more than ready to hit the sack.

It didn't take long before I fell asleep.

We spent most of our free time outside, mainly because Raven wanted us to meet each and every one of her new classmates and wanted us to say hello to our former ones.

Christmas was surprisingly quiet this year. No fire, no pizza service, and no complaints from the neighbours.

But the chaos on New Years Eve was just like we remembered it.

Bella had one of the clumsy moments, the ones that she had every once in a while, and tripped over the grill. It was no surprise that our yard caught fire and Renée was running around hysterically rather than getting the fire extinguisher. I went to get it, although it broke my heart to kill the flames, it needed to be done.

The next thing that happened was Mom wanted to pop the champagne open and succeeded in doing so, but almost drowned the entire living room in champagne. The liquid managed to get into one of the power outlets and of course, that caused a short circuit followed by a blackout. Bella and I cleaned the living room in the dark while Dad tried to get the power back on. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed, and in the end, we spent the evening in candle light.

Overall we had a really good time, even if Mom's occasional disasters were a little troublesome, but we've had to deal with that for years now and our lives would be rather boring without it.

Soon, all of us were standing at the airport once again, saying our goodbyes.

And before we knew it, we were at the airport in Port Angeles once again. This time, it wasn't nearly as hard to find the group as it had been the first time. A few hours later, we drove through the gates of the academy.

"Bella! Chris!" a high-soprano sing song voice shouted as soon as we hopped off the bus in front of the dorm houses.

Of course Alice would be awaiting our arrival.

"You guys look so...refreshed," Alice said as she examined us with a smile.

Edward was right behind her, beaming at Bella.

"Ugh, we better leave those two alone," Alice said and dragged me off to my room.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"Rose and Jazz are on the next bus and Em will arrive on the last one tonight."

"And Dylan?" I asked, hoping he was no where nearby.

Alice looked away. "He's...somewhere."

I quirked a brow at her but didn't bother commenting on that.

We entered my room and I saw my suitcase was already there. Didn't I just get off the bus?

I shook my head. By now I should be used to strange things happening around here.

"So, how was your Christmas?" Alice asked absentmindedly.

"Great. We laughed, we ate, and we got presents."

"That's nice," Alice mumbled.

I eyed her in suspicion. "Alice, is there something you want to tell me?" I asked her.

Just then, her phone rang. "Oh, Rose is already here. That was fast," she said in surprise and quickly started texting. "She'll be up here in a minute." Alice started pacing around the room until Rose burst in.

"I'm so sorry, Chris!" she shouted and ran toward me.

"Rose, I haven't told her yet," Alice said to her, causing her to halt her motions.

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"You know, I talked to Rose over the vacation, since _she_ called me," Alice shot me an accusing glare.

"A phone works two ways, Alice, you could have called me, too."

"Whatever, that's not the point. She told me all about your little situation, and well...you should sit down."

I sat on my bed and looked at her in confusion while Rose gave me a look filled with sympathy.

"First of all, I want you to know that I tried, I _really_ tried to talk to him, but he just wouldn't listen. He was telling me some bullshit about giving you the time that you need."

"Are we talking about Dylan?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry, Chris, I'm really really—"

"Just get to the point."

"Dylan has a girlfriend."

* * *

**_A/N:_ Yes, yes. Life sucks and then you die. Don't hate me for that, you should all just be happy that Edward and Bella are a happy couple. I am also very happy, happy to inform you that we are getting closer to the end. I don't know how many more chapters, but I'm thinking about...hmm about 5? I'm not sure yet. There are still a few surprises to come, but for now we can all just take a deep breath..or maybe not. I'm not sure yet :P Well, I think the next chapter will involve a lot of..school actually, except if I change my mind again, but that is the actual plan. The fair should be coming up as well and I'm already excited for that one :D Also will I tell you who Dylan's grilfriend is, because I'm pretty sure that you will never guess it. Okay anything else? hmm...no, not right now. Well, then you all know what to do, I'll just go and start the next chapter. By the way, I'm sorry that this one is not as long as the previous ones, but that's what you get when I update fast. Oh and FASGS has over 60 reviews now yaaayyy! I'm gonna celbrate that, meanwhile you will work on getting to 70 ;)**


	16. Interesting Outburst

**_A/N:_ God, I'm freaking great! Another update so fast. It's amazing how fast I can type**

**Okay, so right now I don't have anything to say...**

* * *

**Chris POV**

"Chris, we need to talk!" Damon entered my room with these words, not even bothering to knock or greet me.

I'd been sitting in my room with a book in my hands ever since Alice and Rose left. They thought I needed some alone time to deal with everything.

"Well hello to you too," I responded and looked at him in confusion.

"Chris, what's going on between you and Cullen?"

"Me and Edward? Well, he claims he's prettier than me, although we all know that's not true and—"

"Chris, I'm being serious here."

I sighed and put the book down.

"What's going on between you and Dylan?" Damon asked again, a little less patiently than before.

"Nothing," I answered immediately.

"'Nothing' can't be true. You kissed him, did you not? There must be something."

"Is eternal hate not enough for you?"

"You and I both know that you don't hate him. All I want to know is what's going on. If it's really nothing, then why are you running around campus arguing with him about your relationship?"

"We weren't. Wait, who told you that?"

"Half of the academy heard you, so practically everyone told me." Damon paced around my room with a frustrated look on his face.

I let out another sigh and ran a hand through my hair. "Well, I told you that Dylan likes me and we just kind of had a fight because I don't feel the same way about him." I wasn't sure whether that was the truth or a lie.

"Were you really going at it with Dylan when Emmett walked in on you?"

"We just...wait, what?" I shrieked and jumped up. "Of course not! I'm not that easy."

"So you're telling me that you're an easy girl?"

"No, but you're making me sound like one."

Damon released a frustrated huff while I started fidgeting with my necklace. "Just tell me the truth, Chris," Damon pleaded.

"What do you want me to say? That every time he gets close, I push him away just because of you? Because that would be what happened."

Damon was silent.

"God, you're all driving me crazy," I mumbled, rubbing my temples. For a second, I thought about Dylan.

That hadn't been a good idea because suddenly I was pulled away by a strange, somewhat familiar, force. I was surrounded by hundreds of colors before I was somehow standing in my closet.

"Chris?" I heard Damon's slightly muffled voice ask.

"Here," I answered and banged against the door which was locked from the outside. The door opened and I fell face first out of the closet.

"How did you get in there?" Damon asked, looking down at me in confusion.

"I have no idea," I muttered as I picked myself up off the floor and smoothed out my clothes. The stone on my necklace had somehow found it's way to the back of my neck, so I pulled it back to the front.

"Nice necklace," Damon commented, eyeing it.

"Thanks."

"I've never seen you wear it before."

"It was a Christmas present."

"From who?"

I looked away and said nothing.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Damon asked quietly.

I still didn't answer.

Damon let out a humorless laugh. "Interesting. He gave you a gift stone, didn't he?"

I merely nodded, still not looking at him.

"That is unbelievable. I mean...nevermind."

"It's not my fault," I defended myself.

"No, it's not, but I don't think this is going to work." Damon made his way to the door.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's over, Chris. It's better for the both of us," Damon answered before exiting my room, closing the door behind him.

I looked at the closed door and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Something inside me started to boil, but I suppressed the feeling and simply went back to reading.

**Bella POV**

Chris wasn't there for breakfast. I was starting to get worried when she came skipping down, motioning for me and Edward to come along.

"What's up with you, Chris?" I asked her.

"Nothing, why?"

"You didn't eat breakfast, but you're still skipping around all happily."

Chris shrugged and Edward got a little confused pucker between his brows.

"Good morning beautiful people. We should hurry to get to school because it's going to start snowing in about 5 minutes," Alice sang with her usual overly-cheery smile in place. She was wearing a cute brown coat with furry sleeve while the rest of us opted for normal coats.

"Snow?" Chris and I asked in terror and immediately started stomping toward the school.

"Snow really isn't that bad," Edward told us as he and the others caught up with us.

"That's what you think, but you were born in this town," Chris retorted.

"You'll have to get used to it since you're going to be spending at least two more years here," Alice said.

"Seeing as you're both good students too, you'll probably go to college, so it might even be six years," Rose added.

"Way to make a friend feel better," I muttered sarcastically.

"Where is Dylan?" Edward asked.

"He had to pick up Heidi," Alice answered.

"Who's Heidi?" I asked. It was the first time I'd heard this name being brought up.

"_Heidi,_" Rose sneered, "is Dylan's new girlfriend."

"What?" I asked in shock and my eyes immediately darted to Chris. She didn't seem to be surprised, and when I reached through the bond, I didn't feel anything other than boredom coming from her. Why in the world didn't she care? She should be beyond pissed right now. Not only did Dylan have a girlfriend, but she also got dumped. I mean, how much worse can it get?

"That's definitely a surprise. I didn't even know Heidi was into normal human beings," Emmett joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jasper asked curiously.

"She's a dog," Alice answered grimly while Emmett roared with laughter.

"A dog?" Chris, Jasper, and I asked in surprise.

"Animal Mimicry; the power to take on an animal's abilities. Heidi is a dog," Edward explained swiftly.

"So she runs around sniffing trees?" Chris asked with obvious amusement in her voice.

"She used to, but she's gotten a better grip on herself over the last few years."

"That's...interesting," I murmured.

"No, it's not. What's interesting is our classification classes. Apart from Specialized Magic being replaced every other week, we'll also have three individual dates per month." Alice jumped up and down excitedly as we entered the school building.

Once again, there was a huge crowd gathered in front of the notice board.

"This seriously isn't funny," Alice complained. Edward opened his mouth to speak but Alice cut him off by continuing to speak. "Introduction class will be today in fourth and fifth period, and we won't have lunch break, but we'll get a free period for the rest of the day," she told us excitedly.

"That means—" I started, but was interrupted by both Chris and Rosalie.

"No History, no French, and no P.E.," they both cheered happily.

"Great way to start the week off," Emmett said,

"Well, I guess I'll see Alice soon and the rest of you later," Edward said and then waved before he made his way through the crowd.

Emmett also disappeared and the rest of us decided to head into our class as well. It seemed like Alice wasn't the only one who was excited for the classification classes. The overall excitement was so strong that Chris and I couldn't help but feel the same way.

After sitting through Calculus, Physics, and Magical Arts, we finally made our way to the Elemental Room. Only, we didn't get in. The building was closed off. Instead, there were hundreds of students gathered in front of it.

"How many students are taking part?" I asked Alice.

"Well, every senior in high school, and every college student. Although the college people don't have to, but they do it anyway. There are only a few idiots who don't want to take part."

"And who's supervising this mess? I don't see any teachers," Chris said, trying to look around but there was just too many people.

"Oh, it's mainly the students' responsibility to arrange it. Every group has a supervising teacher of course, but the students still do most of the work. That's why each group has a council. And poor Edward is on it which means he has to take care of all those kids, and older ones."

"Wait, didn't Edward say he'll see you sooner?" Chris asked. "I thought you were a Special."

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Mr. Decour made a mistake. I'm a Psych, not a Special, which of course is kind of obvious seeing as I am a psychic."

"Okay, it seems we have some organization troubles. All students, please return to your classrooms," a voice shouted loudly throughout the crowd. A groan was the response the person got, but he didn't seem to care. "All of you get back into your classrooms and wait there. We will sort this out momentarily."

"Let's go back fast before they overrun us," Rose advised and we all hurried back into the school building.

"You know what I just realized? It still hasn't snowed yet," Chris pointed out when we went to sit in our usual seats. She was looking pointedly at Alice.

"It is snowing," Jasper said. "The school just put up the weather astrodome again to keep the snow out since we're supposed to stand outside."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked him.

"Some guy in the crowd was talking about it."

The classroom started filling and I heard our fellow classmates complaining about the council's lack of planning.

A few minutes later, a girl who looked a bit stressed out and a little older than us came in the room and stood in front of the class. "Anyone who belongs to the Psych group, go outside now and join the group that's standing in front of the building. There are two council members standing there and you are not to move anywhere without their permission," she said before stalking back out of the room.

A few people, including Alice, jumped up to follow the instructions.

"I'll see you guys later," Alice called as she quickly danced out of the room.

It was a little while until the next person came into the room. The guy didn't give off a friendly vibe at all, but that wasn't my problem. "Okay, everyone who belongs in the Physio group go to the Gym. Nobody else, just the Physios. The Specials meet in the auditorium and the Techs come with me."

And just a moment later, it was just Chris, Dean, Nathan, and I left in the room.

"Are we seriously the only Pyros in this class?" Chris asked Dean in disbelief.

"Well, there are two others out in parallel classes, remember?" he replied.

"Oh yeah, those two." The look on Chris' face showed that she wasn't at all impressed.

"Okay, all of you who are Pyros..." a black-haired girl walked in and spoke before she looked up and let her voice trail off. "Okay, yeah, nevermind. All of you, come with me," she said slowly.

We all got up to follow her and the group of people she was already with. Added together, there was probably about thirty of us. The girl led us downstairs and in front of the school where she waited with us. She looked a little unhappy.

"Hey Meredith, what's wrong?" Chris asked her. How did she know her? That's when I recalled hearing her name once before and I thought I'd seen her with Chris too. That was when she hung out with Damon just to run away from Dylan. The good ol' days.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just all messed up. Normally we don't have classes come inside at once. Some kids just thought they could run in where ever they thought they should go and in the process they managed to create quite the mess, so we had to throw them out again and get the groups in separately. But there was just this huge crowd standing there, so Edward suggested we go through each class and collect kids from different groups while a few others fix the mess inside the classrooms. I ran through the whole college building, collecting all of their Psychs, which isn't a very fun task since there are literally hundreds of Psychs. And then I had to collect the senior Pyros and Hydros and some kids just didn't listen to instructions and they had to bring their group as well. It's really horrible," Meredith spoke quickly and with wild hand gestures.

Chris seemed to want to say something, but the conversation was interrupted by another group approaching us.

"I will so not be on the council next year," a blond girl called over to Meredith.

"Tell me about it."

"No, seriously. There were three drunk kids who forgot their classification — we had to take them to the hospital. The college students are just troublesome."

Meredith patted her shoulder lightly before she turned to our two groups. "Okay, we're going to divide you now,, even though we'll walk in the building together. Most of you should know how this works," she shot a dirty look at a few guys. "Pyros are with me, and Hydros are with Natalia over there. For the newcomers, I'm telling you beforehand that you shouldn't cause any trouble because every single person on the council is already pissed off enough, so just try to be nice."

Chris and I exchanged a look before Nathan came and dragged me along with him to join the Hydro group while the Pyros walked off. Nathan and I had worked together a few times in Specialized Magic together, so I didn't mind much.

There were only a few people in the group that looked at all familiar to me.

"Okay, first things first, Mr. Martinez is sick so he can't be here today, but if any of you even attempt to start some kind of stupid water fight or splashing game, I swear to God, I will freeze you in an ice block that is so thick you won't be able to move for two months," the girl, Natalia, warned.

Meredith seemed to have been right. The council members really were pissed off.

I briefly wondered how Edward was holding up at the moment.

"And if anyone throws frozen spit around, I will call the Pyros to melt your sorry asses, understood?" Natalia was looking at each of the boys who had slightly disappointed looks on their faces.

"You know, Natalia, you've been telling us this for three years already, and yet this kind of thing still happens. Why don't you just give up?" one boy asked her.

Natalia had already started leading us to the side building in which the classification rooms were located.

"Just shut up, Michael. I'm going to get my diploma next year, and then I won't have to deal with doofuses like you anymore," she called back.

We walked into the hallway, which was already familiar to me, and I saw Edward standing in front of one of the doors, talking quietly to a girl. It wouldn't have bothered me if she wasn't letting her hand travel up and down his arm. Edward caught her hand and let it drop, then looked up to see me looking at them. He sent me a wink with one of those crooked smiles I loved so much and all I could do was give a goofy grin in return.

"Is it true that you're with Edward Cullen?" a girl, who had suddenly appeared by my side, asked.

I flinched at her sudden close proximity but nodded nonetheless.

"Dammit. I was hoping it was just a rumor. No offense, but..." she trailed off, looking a little defeated. "I'm Carmen, by the way," she smiled.

"Bella," I responded slowly.

"Oh, I know. Everybody knows. If the school were to write a gossip magazine, you'd be on the cover at least once a month."

I stared at her with wide eyes.

We entered the room in front of us and for some reason, I suddenly got the feeling I was being watched.

The room was big. Very bigger. Even bigger than the Elemental Room. It was all white and silver mixed with blue.

The front part of the room, where we'd just entered, was arranged like a classroom, and a few people were already sitting down.

"Ah, I've been wondering why I had only a few Hydros," Natalia said when she saw them.

Three people were standing in front of a whiteboard, patiently waiting for us to settle down. Somehow I landed in a seat between Carmen and Nathan.

Apart from Natalia, there were two boys standing at the front. One had brown hair which was styled in spikes and his nails were covered in black nail polish. He looked bored as he looked at us. The other was dark-skinned and had a puma cut into his short hair. I guessed that if the two of them weren't wearing their school uniforms, they would look even more contrasting than they did now.

"Okay so, this is Bryce," Natalia introduced the spiky-haired guy, who nodded slightly at the mention of his name. "And this is Japree," the other one showed a half-grin to acknowledge us.

"They look kinda scary," Nathan whispered beside me.

"Most of you already know them, of course, but we've got a few new Hydros again this year," Natalia continued.

"Not as wacky as last year," Japree grunted.

"And since we didn't get to do this last year, we'll introduce our new members," Bryce continued and pulled the clipboard out of Natalia's hands. Before he even started reading, I feared being called up to the front. He flipped through a few pages before he spoke. "Okay, we have Nathan Adrian. Come on up here."

Nathan got up and walked to the front where Japree pulled out a chair for him so he could sit facing the class.

Bryce continued reading, "Christian Chase."

Christian went to sit in front as well.

"Eric Yorkie," Bryce read and Eric went to the front. "And last but not least, Isabella Swan."

I got up, ignoring all the eyes I could feel watching me as I went to sit next to Eric. He seemed rather eager about that.

"Well, my dears, you know how we welcome new family members. Remember, this is the _only_ water splashing you'll get. Kiddos, you better know how to defend yourselves," Natalia said.

Water splashing?

"Water fight!" Japree yelled and suddenly everyone was bombarding us with water.

Without a second thought, I kicked into power mode and quickly dashed to the other side of the room. Meanwhile, everyone was splashing and freezing each other. I didn't have to do anything. Every time someone tried to hit me, I just gracefully danced out of the way. I mostly just watched them attack one another like wild animals.

I hoped that the Pyros weren't doing the same thing.

After ten minutes, Bryce called all of their attention. The madness stopped instantly and everyone turned to look at him. Even though he was dripping with water, his hair was still standing in perfect spikes. "Okay, like always, the winner is the one who is the driest," Bryce said and looked at everyone.

That's when it started again. All of them started shouting that they'd won the game.

I dared to move out of the corner where I was hiding and walked up to the front. "I think I won," I said quietly.

The monkey circus stopped immediately as they all turned to stare at me.

"Well congrats, you get veto right to decide what we do at the fair," Japree told me and clapped me on the back.

"Why her? Not only is she new here, but she's new to the whole school. I bet she wouldn't even have any good ideas," some guy started complaining.

"Doesn't matter. She still won. There isn't a single drop of water on her. As for the idea thing, need I remind you that we sucked the last three years?" Bryce looked at the one who had spoken intently.

"Hey, the waterslide was not my idea," he defended himself.

"Whatever Isaac, just sit down," Natalia said. "I'll get the towels."

I was only half listening to all of this because I was a little distracted by all of the water dripping off of everyone. I started to get the feeling that huge amounts of water just automatically responded to me.

I gently lifted my hand and saw how the water drew itself from everyone's clothes and levitated in bubbles over their heads. I held my hand out and the bubbles floated toward me. As soon as the water came in contact with my hand, my body sucked it in and I gasped in surprise at the feeling of utter might that went along with it. Soon, I had absorbed every last bit of water. I slumped back into my chair, feeling as if I had eaten too much, but the feeling wasn't only in my stomach, it was throughout my whole body.

"Well, I guess we don't need towels," Natalia said.

"Man, I heard you were awesome, but you're...really awesome," Japree said.

I shrugged.

"Hey, you know what, I bet we can beat the Pyros with her this year," Bryce burst excitedly.

"What?" I asked.

"Every year we have a bet running with the Pyros. If we Hydros get more visitors, they have to hand over five of them to be our slaves for three weeks, and if they win, it's the other way around."

"And every year we lose because the Pyros just have to set up a Hawaiian atmosphere and spit a little fire to impress people. Pyros and Hydros are the two smallest groups, and water is just a little less spectacular than fire," Natalia explained.

"What did you do last year?" I asked her.

"The ultimate waterslide, but it was just a random waterslide."

"And what are the plans for this year?"

"That's what we're going to decide now." Natalia seemed enthusiastic.

Japree led me to sit in front on the side.

"Okay, kiddos. Any ideas?" Bryce asked.

"How about a skating rink?" someone suggested.

"Do you know how much space we have? We have so much space and we already wasted it last year by building just one simple waterslide. You know what the Psychs do, right? They actually build a freaking fair."

"Well, I'm sorry but there's not much else we can do. Did you ever notice what we actually can do? We have freezers, water manipulators, fish mimics...what else?"

"Well, I produce water and freeze it," Japree said and produced a water ball in his hand which he froze a second later. He squeezed it and it turned back into water.

"Why isn't anyone taking notes?" I asked. Everyone stared at me, but then Natalia sighed and wrote the different kinds of powers we had in this group on the board.

"Water absorber," Bryce said when he looked at me.

"Um, no, actually I do more than that."

"That's true. She turns herself into water," Nathan called from somewhere.

"Seriously? That wasn't just a rumor?" Bryce asked.

I shook my head.

"Anything else you can do?"

"Yes, but I'm not really in control of it. I'm not sure if I can use it on other people, but I can heal myself."

"You're like a water goddess," Bryce said with an awed grin.

I rolled my eyes.

"We can build a throne for her and make her the main attraction," Japree joked.

"Nice idea," Natalia responded sarcastically. "What else do we have?"

"We have you, dear ice princess," someone called.

Natalia rolled her eyes.

"The Ice Princess and the Water Goddess," Bryce mumbled.

"I think Water Queen would sound much better in that case," I commented.

He looked at me. "You're right."

"Do you seriously plan to sit her on a throne?" Japree asked.

"It was your idea."

"It was a joke."

"Guys, can I suggest something?" I asked carefully.

"Shoot."

I told them my idea and they seemed to catch on pretty quickly.

"We'll need someone to sketch the plans," Bryce said. Some guy in the class volunteered to do that since his college major was architecture.

"That means we could add a skating rink, too," the girl who had suggested it earlier threw in.

"Yes, we could. And I really do think we should do this Queen and Princess thing," Bryce insisted. Nobody objected so it was added to the list.

"You know, we should tell Mr. Volturi to take the astrodome down to let the snow in. We'll need it. It's easier to keep the snow to use rather than creating our own ice," Natalia mused.

"Write that down."

"We should have a water show or something," Japree suggested.

"Sure, why not? Bella could do that along with a few others. We should get her a posse as well, but we'll need a few juniors who are willing to dress up."

Bryce grinned wickedly, but when he actually told us his idea, it wasn't even the least bit wicked.

"This is going to rock and the Pyros are seriously going to cry," Bryce said at the end of the day when we'd thrown hundreds and hundreds of ideas together.

"Yeah. And please remember rule number one: don't tell anybody about our plans. And always carry Psych Blockers around, 'cause I don't want anyone in your minds, especially not that Cullen kid," Natalia warned.

After that, we were dismissed.

I came out of the Hydro room at the same time as Chris left the Pyro room. Just then I realized that we had a serious problem.

"You can't enter my mind for the next few months," we both said at the same time, then looked at each other before we laughed.

"So, how was it?" I asked her.

"Awesome. I love Pyros. Did you know that we are in the two smallest groups?"

"Yeah, I know. We're also enemies now."

"I heard. But don't worry, I'll still love you even after you lose," Chris said in a friendly tone.

"So guys, how was your day?" Alice suddenly appeared behind us.

"Great, and yours?" I responded.

"The best. I can't wait for the fair! But it'll be so long until then. And we have to rehearse so much. The good thing about these preparations is that we're actually learning to use our gifts better because we'll be using them more than usual," Alice gushed.

"Hey guys, wait up!" Rose called just as we left the building. We all turned to see her and Jasper rushing to catch up to us. "It was awesome, and judging by your happy faces, it was just as great for you," Rose said and we all nodded in agreement. "Did you know that there's this one guy who tells the worst jokes but you have to laugh anyway? A completely useless gift, but I've never laughed so much in my entire life."

"That sounds really la—" Chris started but stopped short as she stared at something.

We all followed her gaze only to see Dylan and a girl with hair such a dark red, it was almost brown. Why in the world did they have to kiss in public?

"Come on, Chris, let's go," Alice said gently and went to pull her along, but she let go instantly. "Ouch. Chris, cool down."

To make matters worse, Damon had to walk passed us and cast a look at Chris.

The anger that came from Chris was so overwhelming that I couldn't even handle it. I suddenly felt dizzy and began to sway. I would have fallen if Edward hadn't appeared out of no where to catch me.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

My mind started to cloud and I felt this incredible bout of anger that didn't belong to me rise inside of me, despite my best efforts at suppressing it. I felt Chris try the same thing, but she didn't succeed either.

Nobody else seemed to know what was going on. They were just watching Chris as she stared Dylan down and me nearly fainting.

"Hey guys, I don't think I've introduced you to Heidi," Dylan said as he approached us, after having spotted us.

I looked at her and if I hadn't felt so weak at the time, I probably would have frowned when I saw that she didn't look like a dog at all. She was very beautiful — almost as beautiful as Rose.

"Um, hi," Heidi greeted with a small wave. Her voice sounded a little unsure, but other than that, it suited her beautiful exterior perfectly.

And then I heard an incredibly loud scream in my mind. It came from Chris, but in reality, she didn't scream.

She hissed like a wildcat.

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise, confusion, and slight wonder. I could see her struggling.

_Chris, you have to calm down,_ I tried to soothe her in my mind. I didn't receive an answer, and when I reached through the bond in concern, I couldn't even hear one thought from her.

I looked at Chris while the others started backing away carefully. Her hands were blazing up like hot white iron and it started to wander up her arms. But the most frightening things were her teeth. She was growing fangs, and the hissing was definitely not helping.

There was no way this would end well.

Suddenly, I realized that Edward was letting go of me.

I felt something about me start changing, too. My thoughts were focused solely on Chris, so I wasn't paying much attention to things happening to me. Chris' hair was growing and it seemed to be winding around her body and fitting to it. I felt how my arms started to vanish and my body seemed to stretch itself.

Everything started to change. My body, my skin, my senses. I was pretty sure I didn't look much more human than Chris at this point, and she seemed to be turning into a Jaguar. She was no longer a human being when she dropped to her knees and stood there on four paws.

I knew her intentions immediately when she started to lunge in Heidi's direction. I moved so swiftly and fast that I surprised myself. I threw her back with my tail but Chris just got up and tried again.

Wait, my _what?_

The confusion about me having a tail seemed to get into Chris' mind as well. Suddenly the only thing we felt was confusion. I felt my body return to normal before everything went black.

**Chris POV**

I groaned before even opening my eyes when I woke up. The familiar scent of a hospital wafted through my nose.

I'd always detested that smell.

"Chris, can you hear me?" I heard a masculine yet soothing and calming voice ask.

I moved my eyes a few times before I managed to pry them open. The first thing I saw was Carlisle's face hovering above mine.

"Do you remember your full name?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, of course," I answered, somewhat curious as to why he would ask me such a question.

Why would I forget my own name?

"Can you please tell me?"

"Christabel Haley Swan," I replied, still wondering what this was all about.

"When is your birthday?"

"Did you lose my records or something?" I asked.

"No."

"Then why do I have to answer these stupid questions?"

Carlisle sighed and turned to someone behind him. "It seems she's perfectly fine."

I looked to see who he was talking to and saw Bella leaning against the wall, looking at me while biting her bottom lip furiously.

"She should stay here for the rest of the week, though," Carlisle continued. "We need to seal her animal spirit, too."

"But I didn't have to stay a week," Bella retorted.

"Yes, but you also seem to be in control. The outburst came from Chris, and we're not sure what will happen when we close her off from it." With that, Carlisle left the room.

Bella was by my side instantly. Edward, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper entered the room too.

"You really scared the hell out of us," Emmett said as soon as he was inside.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"You almost ripped Heidi's throat out — kitty style," Emmett said as soon as he was inside.

"What?"

"You kind of turned into a Jaguar. A very angry Jaguar at that," Alice explained.

I looked at Bella for confirmation and she nodded slowly to answer.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't remember anything they were talking about. The last thing I recalled was coming out of the Pyro room and meeting the others outside.

"Hey, where is Rose?" I asked weakly.

"She had to go to the washroom real quick, but she'll be here in a minute," Alice answered.

Was it just me or did they all look at me with horrified expressions?

Even Bella looked scared as she held my hand tightly. I thought I even saw tears glistening in her eyes.

"I'm not scared of you. I'm scared _for_ you," Bella reassured me, probably having felt my emotions through the bond. "You weren't in control at all and I'd never felt that much anger coming from you."

"I'm sorry for scaring you," I murmured quietly.

"It's okay, it won't happen again. Laurent will seal the spirit for you. You won't be able to use it, but you'll get a cool tattoo," Bella said, lifting her shirt up a bit and turning around to reveal a strange circle on her back. It really did look like a tattoo. It was a small circle that had about three more smaller circles inside of it. Between each ring were little symbols that I couldn't decipher. In the middle of the whole thing was a pentagram.

"It's kinda cool," I told her.

"Yeah, but it's also going to be kind of hard to hide from Mom and Dad. I guess we'll never go swimming with them again. I hope your seal gets a better spot."

She was right. She merely had to wear a shorter top and bend down once and the thing would be visible.

"Why did you let him put it there?" I asked her.

"I didn't choose the spot. Apparently the seal goes closest to the source of magic — yours could be in a completely different place."

"What is your animal spirit anyway?" I asked.

"Bella turned into the most beautiful water dragon. They're _very_ rare and very snake-like," Alice gushed. "She had the most stunning blue scales I've ever seen."

"A dragon? Shouldn't I be a dragon with the fire and all?" I questioned.

"Water dragons don't spit fire," Edward told me.

I yawned loudly.

"I think we should let Chris get some sleep — she's exhausted," Jasper suggested.

"No, I want to stay here," Bella insisted stubbornly.

"Don't be ridiculous. Bella, you hate hospitals."

"So do you."

"Yes, but I have to be here."

"Okay, I'll go, but you have to call me if anything is wrong," she said with a slight warning tone in her voice.

"Will do."

"Night Chris," they all mumbled and turned to leave the room.

I saw Rose peeking in for a moment and waving at me. I smiled weakly at her before I fell into a dreamless slumber.

"Chris, I need you awake for this," a heavily accented voice said.

I opened my eyes and saw Laurent standing next to my bed. I started to feel the urge to get out of his reach as fast as I could, but then I saw Carlisle on a chair in the corner, relaxed.

"Strip," Laurent instructed.

"What?" I asked in shock and disbelief, casting a horror-filled look at Carlisle.

"Just take off the nightie. You're wearing undergarments underneath," Carlisle said in a more gentle manner than Laurent.

"Besides, it's not like we haven't seen it all before anyway," Laurent added. His accent was disguised again while he allowed a small cruel smile to crawl across his lips as I remembered the incident when he'd indeed seen everything there is to see.

I grudgingly took the long nightgown off after sitting up in the bed.

Carlisle suddenly got up. "I'm sorry, I'm needed elsewhere. I just got word that a kid swallowed bat wing powder." Carlisle offered an apologetic smile before leaving the room.

As soon as the door closed, Laurent pulled his want out.

I flinched back and pulled the cover up in a silly attempt to protect myself.

Laurent looked at me in confusion. "Uncover yourself. I need physical contact to see the source of the spirit. Just lay down on your stomach."

I did as he asked, suddenly scared that he would kill me if I didn't. Although he'd probably kill me anyway, or whatever it was that he and his psycho friends planned to do with me.

I flinched more than necessary when his cold hand came to rest on the middle of my back.

"Pardon," Laurent mumbled, probably thinking that I couldn't stand the cold. "Try to connect with your spirit."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, however you did it the last time."

"I don't remember."

"Well, as far as I know, you were angry about something. It must have been something that Heidi Schmidt did, because you were dead set on getting to her."

The name was all it took for me to recall the memory. It wasn't just her whom I was angry at. I had been pissed off at Dylan, Damon, and most of all, myself. All of this combined with the anger and hurt I had been suppressing led to a major overreaction. I remembered the pure rage inside me, although I did try to fight it.

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Your workings are quite fast, it's rather impressive," Laurent told me.

I wasn't exactly sure what he meant.

"Your sister was a little scared of me, did you know that?" Laurent suddenly asked.

I didn't answer him.

"Oh no, fear is not a good emotion for you, it seems. The flow slows down. It worked better with your sister, although I don't know how you came up with the theory that I want to kill you."

"You don't?" I asked in surprise.

"Hmm," he hummed, "it seems fear makes you less powerful. And no, I do not intend to kill you." His hand travelled up to my shoulder. "I would have thought you had the same source as your sister since everything seems to be similar with you two, but now I'm starting to see differences in your gifts, and even better, I can see more of it now."

"What does that mean?"

"Every power has a source center. There are supposed to be three in every witch. One for the normal magic flowing through the body, one that belongs to their main gift, although some people have multiple gifts but that's why they sometimes don't have a source for their spirit. These sources are not at the same place, though they can be close to one another, but with you, it seems that all your energy flows in the same direction," Laurent's voice changed between his teacher voice and personal musing. "Turn around."

I turned and Laurent put his hand back on my shoulder, seemingly following some kind of invisible trail.

"Is it bad if I have one source for everything?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet."

I looked at him and saw that his eyes were definitely not focused on me, which was definitely not good, otherwise he would see what he was doing, that he was about to touch me in the second most inappropriate place for a teacher's hands to be.

Laurent's eyes seemed to return and he looked at me. "There's no need to panic, you could have just said something," he told me.

I hadn't even noticed that I'd started to breathe faster and more heavily. Laurent simply continued his search for the source on my stomach. For a moment, he didn't move his wand.

"It's amazing how much more power you have than your sister," he murmured.

"I'm stronger than Bella?"

"I didn't say that. I merely said that you have more power."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"No. You are more powerful, but you're also the weaker one. Bella can control her powers, mainly because her sources are well separated from one another, but yours all end here." His hand was covering my navel. "Everything comes from one source, so it's really no wonder your emotional outbursts end so dangerously. You see, you have great power, but not the overall control it takes to handle that power. It's not your fault though." Laurent took his wand and drew a circle with it around my navel.

"So you'll just seal the animal inside of me?" I asked.

"No, I can't do that. Since everything is at once source, I can't close you off from it, it would—" Laurent suddenly stopped talking to stare at me in surprise. "I should have seen this earlier," he muttered.

"What?" I asked, feeling fear.

"Alice told me earlier that you had symptoms once that led her to the conclusion that you have over excessive magic inside of you, but that's not the case. I don't even think you're actually more powerful than Bella, I believe you're body is just being rebellious..." his voice trailed off.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Someone has already sealed your animal spirit away. It was quite a powerful seal, too," Laurent said.

"What? But I don't even have a seal anywhere."

"Yes, you do," Laurent pointed to where he had just drawn the circle. There was now the exact same symbol tattoo thing that Bella had on her back.

"But nobody ever drew weird things on me with a wand," I protested.

"Not that you know of," Laurent responded.

"So if it's already sealed, then why am I still dangerous?"

"A caged animal tends to get angry, and with your temper, it's no wonder. Your energy flows in the same direction because it's trying to break the seal. You have more difficulties controlling yourself than Bella because your magic already circles fast in your body. Your outburst today was an attempt at breaking the seal permanently. It was caused by an emotional reaction."

"And what does that tell me?"

"Well, if I see this correctly, then you did manage to rip the seal, so perhaps you'll just have to wait."

"Wait for what? Me to take a bite of someone the next time I get angry?" I was getting riled up much too quickly these days, but I just couldn't help it.

"No. Until we find a solution for this," Laurent replied strictly.

"Who is 'we'?"

Laurent smiled gently. "The people that are watching you."

"I hope you're not talking about Irina and her little clique," I grumbled.

"Irina?" Laurent sounded surprised.

"Yes, she killed Alistair," I replied. "Shouldn't you know that?"

Laurent eyed me for a moment. "If we're lucky, your moodiness will disappear once the seal is completely broken. Although, we may want to worry about who put it on you in the first place. It must have been years ago."

"Wait, wait, wait, I think we need to talk. If you're not on Irina's side, and you're not a killer, then who are you?" I asked, looking at him through narrowed eyes.

"I'm your teacher," Laurent stated matter-of-factly.

"That's not the answer I was looking for."

"I am not at liberty to divulge that information to you, unfortunately. They are watching you and as long as we don't know who exactly _'they'_ are, we cannot give you the answers you seek."

"What is with all the crypticism? Is that really supposed to be an answer?"

"Ms. Swan, I advise you try and keep your temper in check. It will be best for all of us." And with that, he simply walked out of the room.

_That was weird,_ I heard Bella's voice in my head and jumped at the sudden sound. _Sorry,_ she apologized.

_You were listening?_ I asked her.

_Yes, and it kind of worries me,_ she replied.

_Join the club!_

The next few days I spent in the hospital were more exciting than I would've thought. The group came over twice a day after school to give me anything I missed in class like homework, and in the evening they came to tell me all about their day. A few of the Pyros — Meredith, Janan, and Steve — came over to see me as well.

Janan and Meredith had to start working together without me and apparently it was actually going pretty well. They just need me now so we could level our gifts somehow. Steve just needed to take my measurements for the costumes, so he stayed around for a little while.

Apparently Dylan came to visit me once while I was asleep and Heidi came over once, too, because she had to "fight her hear." She told me that she had nightmares and she wanted to confront her fears. I apologized to her and that actually seemed to be all she needed.

_Right. Confront her fears._

On my last day in the hospital, Esme and Carlisle came to visit me together.

"Chris, please say it's not true!" Esme pleaded as soon as she waltzed into my room.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Did Dylan make you a gift stone?" Carlisle asked me.

"Yes."

"Oh dear Lord," Esme sighed.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to give it back, but Alice said that I couldn't and I—"

"Chris, calm down," Carlisle told me gently. "We're not blaming you."

"Oh."

"He is such an idiot," Esme huffed.

"I agree with you on that."

Esme looked at me in concern. "What did he do to you, darling?"

"Nothing," I answered.

"Are you sure about that? I think someone's a little heartbroken," Esme replied.

"My heart is not broken," I denied. "It's whole and beating," I pouted, knowing I was being absolutely childish.

Esme laughed at that and stayed a while longer, conversing softly with me while Carlisle had to get back to work. He really over worked himself.

**Third POV**

Master looked at the piece of paper that Houdini had given to him with the prophecy written on it.

"Are you sure that this is the prophecy?" Master asked.

"It was in the wand boxes," Houdini replied.

"This tells me nothing!" Master smacked his fist on the table, causing Houdini to flinch back slightly.

"Master, may I have a look at it?" Nightmare asked.

He made a simple gesture telling her to do so.

Nightmare read through it over and over again. "It only tells us what we already know and the rest doesn't make sense," she mumbled.

"It does make sense, we just don't know the meaning of it," Master responded. "The first line is easy to decipher. We already know that the two of them denied what should belong to me," Master spat. "And the bonded ones have already returned to life. No matter how much I would like to kill them once more, I can't until we can get to the power. As for the clues…it's ridiculous. There are no clues and I already know where it is sealed."

"Maybe there's a riddle they have to solve to enter?" Blossom suggested quietly.

"That may be it," Master mused. "The light and the dark is obviously the power of life and death. The last line, however, makes no sense whatsoever."

"So all we have to do is get the twins to go with us?" Houdini asked.

"So it would seem."

"We'll need three months for the potion that brings us there," Nightmare pointed out.

"Well then, get to work. The twins should be more than ready to help us by then."

**Bella POV**

"We've gotten to the point where I should tell you what we like to call our creation story. It's only partially true, but you should pay close attention anyway as this _will_ be part of the exam," Mrs. Alto said in her slightly squeaky voice. She held a book in her hand and flipped a few pages before she settled in her chair to read.

Chris and I exchanged a quick look before Chris shrugged and laid her head on the table. She was still a little worn out from last week's incident.

"And so it our Father created two more beings to wander our Earth. They were not much different than the humans that he had already created, but he'd blessed them with an incredible gift, one that he himself carried. The ability to create and to decide over life and death. It was a very generous gift, but the Father felt it would be safe with his two blessed children. The two sisters called themselves Heaven and Hell. Heaven was a gentle creature who never dared to hurt another being. Hell was courageous and feared no danger. While Heaven was mending plants and animals, Hell was gone to hunt monsters.

"Even though these two sisters seemed to be nothing alike, they shared a bond so strong that not even the vast distance could keep them apart. Yes, it seemed that their love was the purest of them all and that nothing could come between them. Although they had one another and indeed enjoyed the presence of humans, they felt there should be more of their kind.

"And so they used their gift of creation and the ability to give life to create another being like them. But when they saw that it was not what they had wanted, they tried it again. The two sisters had such different personalities and had gained such clashing abilities that they didn't have the same image in mind when they attempted to create this being. The first created was too much like Hell, the second resembled Heaven too much, but the third seemed to be _just_ perfect. After a while, however, they both became unhappy. Yes, their third creature was well, but it was not what either of them wanted. So they decided to create one on their own, and soon demons were created by Hell while Heaven gave life to beings called witches.

"It seemed like these two races were unsuited to be living together, and so the demons left the Earth for they were unwilling to share their world with the humans. The witches, on the other hand, stayed, but hid themselves away from the humans because they too did not want to interact with humans. But the sisters weren't willing to separate from each other and so stayed together, letting their creations be. What the sisters didn't know was that their first two creations secretly went to poison their other children and told them about the great power the sisters held. Soon, each one of them lusted after this great might and went to retrieve it for themselves. The demons and the witches fought each other because each side want to have control over this gift. The third child created by the sisters saw the danger and protected them. He'd gathered those whose minds were not clouded by the promises made by the other two, and formed an alliance.

"A terrible war broke out but the sisters were protected long enough to seal their gift and kill themselves. It is said that they will return to retrieve their gift so they can take it with them and return it to their father.

"The demons and the witches who had fought viciously with one another nearly extinguished their races and destroyed half of the Earth. The two races swore to keep their distance and ever since, they've stuck to their word."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I really don't see why you're obsessing over this Heaven and Hell story," Edward complained.

"Why not?" I whined for the millionth time.

We were on our way back to the houses when I once again brought up my theory.

"You know, in a way, Bella is right. That text must be connected to the story somehow. How else do you explain the similarities?" Alice chirped.

"But it doesn't make sense," Edward protested.

"Only because you don't want it to," I responded.

"Okay, then enlighten me."

"Um, well...what if the whole returning to life thing isn't exactly meant like that?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, Heaven and Hell died, so maybe they didn't mean returning to life in that sense, just that another pair of bonded ones has to be born to unravel the power they sealed away."

"Then why did nobody unravel it before? You're not the first bonded ones."

"Maybe they didn't know how," I offered with a shrug.

"Okay, and what does the rest of it mean?"

"I'm not sure yet," I said. "It sounds like there are clues that have to be found or something before we can find out where the power is. Or maybe just unravel it. And when that is completed, you'll have the power. I just can't figure out what the last line means."

"I don't think it means anything. Didn't Mrs. Alto speak of a pure love? Maybe the power is supposed to be a reminder of the times when Heaven and Hell owned it," Chris suggested with a yawn.

"Okay so you have to solve some kind of clue to free a long lost power?" Rosalie asked for clarification as we walked into my room.

"It seems so."

"What are the clues?"

"I don't know," I grumbled and dropped down on my couch while Chris started sniffing around the room.

"What are you sniffing at?" Alice asked her with a funny expression.

"I don't know, it just smells different in here than usual," she answered.

"Maybe it's the Snuffle," Rose said.

"No, I haven't woken it yet," I responded.

"Why not? Those things are so cute."

"I forgot," I defended myself.

"Well then do it now."

I sighed and went to where I'd placed the cage right beside my dresser, but I was distracted by something else.

The things on my dresser were not how I left them.

A few of the cream tubes were mixed up, laying down when they weren't when I left, and a small piece of my wand box was broken off.

"Has someone been in here?" I asked the others.

"When? We were all in school a few minutes ago, remember?" Alice answered.

"But someone's been in here," I insisted.

"How do you know?" Rose asked.

"The things on Bella's dresser are _always_ upright," Chris explained.

"Well, maybe not today," Edward said.

"Even if that were the case, I haven't touched that wand box in weeks and it hasn't fallen off my dresser, so why is there a part broken off?" I frowned deep in thought.

Chris gasped suddenly and hurriedly dashed into her room. It seemed like she'd had some kind of epiphany. She came back into my room a moment later.

"Someone's been in my room, too. I put the box in a drawer that I _always_ lock, but it was open when I just checked."

"Someone broke into your rooms to look at wand boxes?" Edward asked in disbelief.

"No," I shook my head. "Someone came to see the text inside of them."

"How would anyone even know that there was something written in them?" Jasper asked, confused. "And even if they knew, how would they know it was inside the boxes?"

I hummed as I thought about this.

"Well someone must know about the text in general, why else would people be watching us?" Chris asked.

"We're talking about Irina again?" Edward asked.

"I guess so. She is stupid enough to make silly mistakes like not putting things back in their proper place after she'd snooped around."

"But wasn't Irina in school?" Alice asked. "I'm pretty sure I saw her."

"Same, so it must've been one of her weirdo friends."

"But still, there's no way they could know about this," Jasper said.

"Yes, there is," I mumbled thoughtfully. "They know that there's text and they probably think it holds information as to where this long lost power is."

"Even if that's true, why would someone know about the text? Not just the text itself, but how would they know _where_ it was?"

Chris made a sound of understanding. "Maybe someone did enter my mind that one night that I had a feeling someone was in it."

"As of now, I'm the only mind reader in the school," Edward said.

"Is mind reading the only way to enter someone's mind?" I asked.

"Not really. Dylan gets into minds too, but he can't read thoughts. Than there are people who can pick certain things like memories out of your mind, but not thoughts. There are quite a few people who can get into your mind to get information out of you, but if they tried it, you would know, and it doesn't really work when you're sleeping."

"Okay, well then I don't know," I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Maybe we can find out how they know once we figure out _who_ they are," Jasper suggested casually.

"Perhaps, but Irina works for someone, and since she can't just leave campus to plan with this person, it has to be someone on campus, but Laurent seems to be in the clear, so it can't be him," I said.

"Why can't she leave campus?" Chris had a look of disbelief and confusion on her face. "She can grow out of the ground, can't she?"

"Yeah, she can, but the school is surrounded by a charm that keeps us in and intruders out. I doubt that Irina is magically strong enough to break it. That means she can only leave when the gates are open because that's the only time the charm is interrupted," Alice explained quickly.

Chris looked at her watch and sighed. "Well, I gotta go to practice now, but I have an idea," she said. "We could just shadow Irina." And then she just walked out of the room, leaving us to think about her plan.

"You know, that's really not a bad idea," Jasper said. "We find out who Irina is working with or for, and then we can find out how they know so much and get the evidence we need to actually tell someone. That way nobody will get killed," he started strategizing right away.

"And how exactly do we go about keeping tabs on Irina? She seems to be popping one Psych Blocker after another since Edward can't get into her mind," Rose asked him.

"We'll just do it the old-fashioned way," Jasper answered with a simple shrug.

"But she's not in our class so we can't even follow her around," I threw in, staring at him with wide eyes just like Rose while Alice told him how sexy he was when we was being 'dangerous like that'.

The following few days, we didn't speak about the plan again.

Our group was constantly a little bit smaller than usual because we all had "classy meetings", aka classification classes. Our schedules weren't the same anymore because all of us had to practice or do whatever they had to do. I should have known that there would be more meetings than just the ones the school assigned for us.

Edward wasn't very thrilled at first when Bryce and Japree appeared in Alice's room to drag me along and inspect the plans. He thought Bryce was dangerous. The funny thing was Bryce and Japree looked like some sort of troublemakers, but they were total softies. Bryce even more so than Japree.

One time, I asked Japree how in the world his parents came up with an unusual name like his.

"It's a ridiculous story and I really don't wanna talk about it," he'd grumbled then went back to reading the large book in front of him.

Now, he was being faced with the task of creating spectacular flavors. I, on the other hand, had to work with the other water manipulators while the freezers were having difficulties with their job. Ever since the astrodome had been opened, it stopped snowing, so they were trying to get the best they could out of the rain, only they weren't all that good at freezing. The fish mimics didn't have any specifically special tasks, so they just assisted the rest of us here and there along with a few juniors.

The first thing we all had to work on was the biger water fountain pool. We were going to have little fountains all over the place, but this one was so big because that was were I had to show off my water abilities.

We all had lots of fun working together and when it finally started to snow, much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it.

The time passed very quickly and soon it was already Valentines Day. Alice had been anxiously and impatiently waiting for the day as if it were her birthday. As a matter of fact, she actually _was_ waiting for her birthday, which just happened to be one month after Valentines Day, but at least she wasn't annoying us about it yet.

"Why is Valentines Day such a big deal?" Chris asked the evening before.

"Because people give you chocolate, duh," Alice replied in a tone that made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.

"You mean people will just come up to me and give me chocolate?" Chris asked.

"No, not really. During lunch break, you go to the cafeteria where the seniors have a table set up and you give them money in exchange for a card. You write who you're giving it to and some sort of cute greeting on it and the seniors will stick it on a box of chocolate and deliver it to the person you wish to send it to. You can request for them to send a rose, too."

"Why do they get paid for that?" I asked.

"They have to buy the chocolate and roses."

"Isn't there going to be a huge line then?" Chris asked.

"That is why Alice will make us get up early so we can catch the seniors before school," Rose moaned.

I had hoped that was just a joke, but Alice really did wake all of us up an hour early. Well, except for Edward. He'd kind of made a habit out of appearing in my room early in the morning to eat breakfast with me.

"Seriously Alice, it's just chocolate," Chris grunted as Alice forced us to hurry to the school.

"No, it's not. People send chocolate to the person they like and you can see how many people are secretly in love with you by the amount of chocolate you receive," Alice sighed dreamily.

"You have a boyfriend, you do remember him, right?" I asked her.

"Yes, but it's still so romantic, and I get chocolate."

"So basically it's all about the chocolate?" Chris asked.

Rose sighed. "It's about the chocolate for us, but the rest of the school hopes to get as much as possible. It's like a game. The seniors crown the two most attractive people in the school judging by the amount of cards you get," Rose explained. That seemed to make more sense.

"Isn't it easy to cheat?" I asked.

"Well, there are rules. You can only send one card, and you obviously can't send it to yourself. There are people who try to get their friends to send them a card, but that doesn't work because before you get to send anything, you have to swear that you're not sending it to cheat, and it's pretty easy to detect a lie."

"Then don't, but I want to," snapped Alice.

"Why are the seniors already in school anyway? And why is Edward here then?" I asked.

"It's only girls who manage the whole thing that are there to check their stacks of chocolate, roses, and cards," Edward explained.

Pretty soon we were inside the school building.

"Where are they?" Alice demanded.

"Storage room," Edward told her.

Alice led us all to the room and knocked furiously on the door.

"We were warned that you might appear early," a blond girl said after she opened the door.

"Yes, yes, yes, let's get to work," Alice rushed seriously.

"Come on in."

It took about ten minutes because each of us were being called in separately, due to lack of space inside of the storage room.

"What now?" I asked.

"The basket will be on our doorstep later," Alice said.

"Basket?"

"Of course. Do you think you'll just get one card?"

"They'll collect all the cards, chocolate, and so on, put it together for each person, and then send it to them. Some people get nothing while others get a basketful," Rose explained with a sigh.

"How wonderful, though that doesn't explain why we're in school like forty minutes early," Chris remarked.

Of course she was right about that, but Alice being Alice insisted that it was better to be early than late.

After a thirty minute argument between Chris and Alice, the school started to fill with people and a red-haired girl walked up to us.

"Jasper!" she called.

"Who is that?" Alice asked, sounding displeased.

"Leonore, she's in my class." Emmett's voice was slightly slurred as he spoke. He hadn't said much today, and I figured it was because he was so tired.

"What does she want with Jasper?" Alice asked impatiently as she watched Jasper walk up to the girl, Leonore, and speak quietly to her.

"How would I know?" Emmett shrugged.

"It's Valentines Day, is it not?" I piped.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean she can talk to him. She should just send chocolate."

"Could it be that you're a little obsessed with chocolate?" Chris asked Alice.

"I am not."

"Yes you are!" Rose, Edward, and Emmett said at once.

Alice decided to be very mature about the situation and opted to stick her tongue out at them.

Jasper strolled back over to us then.

"What did she want?" I asked before Alice could snap at him.

"I asked her to keep an eye on Irina since she can actually use her invisibility unlike other kids in our class."

"And?" I pressed.

"Irina does nothing out of the usual during the day, but since Leonore only watched her during the day, I would guess that Irina creeps out at night."

"I thought there was an alarm system in every house to prevent sneaking out," Alice said.

"Well that's a really stupid thing, actually. The alarm system can easily be switched off with a spell," Edward answered her.

"Why do they use an alarm system instead of an alarm spell?" I asked.

"Because the school doesn't use powerful ones like the IDM, the students were able to find a way to sneak out. They still get out, so the school just gave up. But there are supervisors for every house, though they barely even appear, and the security guards only make sure that no one leaves campus."

"Anyway, I had a point here. We would have to follow Irina at night," Jasper intervened.

"Great, and how are we supposed to do that?" Chris asked.

"Sneak out behind her?"

"But she could see us."

"Well, Dylan, Emmett, and I could do it, but the chances that she'll see us are still pretty high," Edward said.

"Okay, then I'll think of something else," Jasper told us.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I want all of you in my room in ten minutes with your Valentines gifts," Alice instructed when we parted ways in front of the houses.

Chris and I nodded and went upstairs to our rooms.

There was indeed a basket standing in front of my door, filled with red heart-shaped cards, chocolates, and roses. Chris had one too, and it seemed that our baskets were about the same size.

"That's just weird. Don't they have other people to crush on?" Chris asked.

Ten minutes later we were both carrying our baskets to Alice's room. Everyone was already there when we arrived, even Dylan and Heidi who had been keeping their distance from us.

"Why are your baskets so big?" Alice asked the second we entered her room. She was definitely overreacting. Our baskets weren't that big — they were a little smaller than picnic baskets. Alice was seated on the floor sitting in front of a cute little basket, her mouth smeared with chocolate.

"Alice, you are a monster," Chris said rather than answering her.

"A terrifying little monster," Jasper agreed. He too had a basket which was roughly the same size as Alice's. Both Rosalie and Emmett had baskets which looked a little bigger, but Rose's was filled with more presents than Emmett's.

Dylan and Edward's baskets were both overflowing while Heidi's was the same size as Alice's.

"This sucks, I used to get a lot more," Alice complained.

"I think some people finally realized that you and Jasper will probably get married," Rose commented.

"So? They can still send chocolate," she pouted.

"Did you count?" Jasper asked her.

"Yes, 25," Alice replied.

"What's your problem then? The average person gets five or ten."

"But I wanted more," Alice whined.

"Here," Rose sighed and tossed her a box of chocolate.

"You already ate all of yours?" I asked in disbelief.

"Why else do you think she looks like that?" Emmett asked.

"Forty-three," Rose suddenly announced. She had apparently finished counting all of her cards.

"What?" Alice shrieked.

"Don't worry, Tinkerbell, I'll give you more than half of it."

"Let's get to counting then," Chris sighed and started to count with Rose's help.

Alice helped me and soon all of us were counting how much were in our baskets. Jasper had twenty-seven, Emmett had thirty-five, and Heidi had nineteen.

Then finally Edward, Chris, Dylan, and I finished counting. Chris had sixty-one, Dylan had seventy-three, Edward had one hundred and three, and I had eighty-six.

"What the hell? If half of the school is crushing on those four, what about the rest?" Rose asked.

"It's not half the school, it's an eighth," Jasper corrected and Rose sent him an icy glare.

"You can have my chocolate, Alice," I said and pushed my basket over to her.

Alice squealed like a little kid and immediately dove her arm into my basket.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would say that Bella and Edward won, but we'll know for sure tomorrow," Rose said.

I really didn't care about being the most attractive girl in school and to be honest, I was rather surprised that I had more cards than Chris. I'd been sure I had no chance against her.

"I always told you that you were nuts when you said I was the better looking twin," Chris commented on my thoughts.

"I don't think either of you look better," Heidi said.

During the few occasions we had to spend time with Heidi, we all did our best to ignore her. Chris always had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from saying something but I heard ever swear she screamed in her head each time we went near Heidi. It wasn't much better for the rest of us. None of us seemed to like Heidi, although I couldn't think of a reason why. Every time she spoke, Alice grimaced, Rose rolled her eyes, and Jasper looked away. Emmett and Edward weren't as bad, though I sensed that Edward didn't like talking to her either. He once said something about unpleasant thoughts. Dylan seemed to be oblivious to all of this and just grinned happily whenever she was closed. Although sometimes I thought I saw him roll his eyes too.

Once she asked Rose if it was okay for vegetarians to have oral intercourse. We'd all groaned and rolled our eyes at that. She also wondered what butterflies have in their tummies when they are in love.

She seemed relatively normal until she asked questions like that.

So now was one of the moments when nobody answered her and we just carried on with our conversation. It was mean and I did feel kind of bad, but I couldn't help it.

At the end of the day when we all left, Alice waved us goodbye from her giant pile of chocolate. Rose had decided to give her all of her chocolate as well along with Edward and Dylan. Chris, however, ate a few herself before leaving the rest for Alice too.

Alice was grinning like a Cheshire cat and I was pretty sure that we were going to regret that soon.

The next morning we all regretted letting Alice have our chocolate. She had apparently eaten more than enough just for breakfast, which caused her to be even more hyper than she usually was for the rest of the day.

"Alice, you're getting on my last nerve," Chris growled as we made our way to the classy rooms.

"Jazzy, did you hear that? Chris is being mean! She's always mean. She never says anything nice to me. Hey look, someone built a snowman! I love snowmen. It's not very pretty though, but do you know what is pretty? Me! You think so too, right? I mean, of course you do, I am your girlfriend, and that's why you have to beat Chris for being mean to me. Don't worry about beating a girl, Chris won't mind. She deserves it for being mean. Ew, the snow is getting in my shoes! Now my feet are wet. That's—" and she went on and on and on.

Thank God only Edward and Dylan had to put up with that.

I made my way to the Hydro room only to find the backdoor open. Apparently they started working without me.

"Yo Bella, you're late," Japree greeted me. He was standing next to the door, watching the others run around working. In front of us were about seven people shaping a booth out of snow.

"Sorry, we had to deal with our pixie."

"No worries," Japree replied with a nonchalant shrug. "You can go help Natalia with the souvenirs. I think she's going crazy."

I crossed the giant place and entered the one booth that we'd already finished.

"Bella, thank God you're here. We need more stuff to sell but I can't think of anything. We have these special made snowballs with you and me and those scepters, but I don't know what else to put on the souvenirs list." Natalia was hysterical, sounding as if she were about to cry.

"Did you forget about the ice skates?"

"No, but that's not my responsibility. I'm thinking about souvenirs and such," she motioned toward the hundreds of cartons behind her.

"How about we create a perfume and call it 'eau de glace'?" Cynthia suggested, appearing from somewhere behind the cartons.

"Well then get to work and create the perfume. Oh, and tell the guys you'll need a perfumery. Try to think of other stuff as well," Natalia instructed and Cynthia was out of the booth right away.

Natalia and I spent the rest of the day coming up with new ideas and by the end of the day, I felt like my brain was going to explode.

**Chris POV**

"More fire!" Jensen yelled as he watched Meredith, Janan, and me practice. The guy was definitely hot enough to have me wonder why he wasn't constantly on fire, but he was just such a pain in the ass. He was one of the council members in the Pyro group and he just loved to drill all of us, even though he was kind of a cool guy. When he wasn't throwing around instructions at least.

As a fire dancer, it was easier for Meredith to dance with the fire, but she had more problems when the amount of fire was increased.

Janan, on the other hand, had no problems with the fire amount, but the dancing while holding the fire was a completely different story. Since she was just a fire manipulator, she constantly had the fear that she was going to burn herself.

She handed the fire over to me so I could increase it.

"Okay, and can we see the whole thing again now please?" Jensen asked.

I sighed and got back into the starting position. The music came on and we had to go through the whole dance _again._

"Nice work, ladies!" Jensen praised us when we finished, then left to look at the progress the others had made.

"It is so freaking hot in here," Janan gasped and dove for her water bottle.

She was right about that. We'd gotten our own astrodome to keep the rainy weather out and we'd created our own weather inside. We were nearing temperatures that occurred in the Sahara.

After the dancing practice was over, the three of us had to go try on our costumes.

"Since when do you have a tattoo?" Steve asked.

"Don't even ask," I grumbled in reply.

By the end of the day, I was so exhausted that I could've slept for more than three days straight. Like so often before, I met up with Bella outside of the Pyro room just as she exited the Hydro room.

"How was your day?" I asked her.

"Full of ideas," came her reply.

"Nice." Suddenly my phone rang. I looked at the screen to see that I'd received a text message from Jasper.

_Alice's room in one hour!_

It seems Jasper's begun to pick up on Alice's bossy habits.

"I'm gonna need a long shower," I sighed. "We'll meet in Alice's room in an hour," I added to inform Bella but it seemed like she'd gotten the same message.

When I entered my room, I was greeted by a big cuddly cotton ball in my face. It made odd squeaking noises and sounded like it was excited. I caught the flying thing just as it was about to go out the window, which was for some reason open, and stomped over to Bella's room.

"Would you mind telling me why this thing was in my room?" I asked her.

She looked like she'd just been looking for him. "Eddie!" she exclaimed when she saw her Snuffle in my arms. "I've been looking everywhere for you." She took little Eddie from me and cuddled him fiercely.

"I still don't get why you named that thing _Eddie_," I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "What in the world is wrong with you?"

When she'd awakened the over-sized cotton ball, Alice insisted on naming it right away. I told her to call it Snuffy or something, but she'd picked the name Eddie instead.

Who on Earth names their pet after their boyfriend?

Even Edward wasn't thrilled about that, which was why Eddie was merely the Snuffle's second name, though Bella pretty much always called him that. After a long discussion between Edward and Bella with the occasional comment from the audience, namely me, she'd decided that it's name would be Eddie, but since the rest of us disagreed with the name, we called him Rick.

Rick-Eddie was currently squeaking happily in Bella's arms while I watched the two of them cuddle.

Then I remembered that I wanted to take a shower, so I quickly informed Bella I was leaving then went to the showers. After my nice long, warm shower, I got dressed then made my way to Alice's room with Bella.

"So, what's the sitch?" I asked when we entered Alice's room.

"Ya'll should really thank me," Jasper said in his southern drawl. It seemed like the Christmas break had reminded him of the good life in the south.

"For what?" I asked.

"I got Heidi to track Irina's every move, and the only place that seemed a little odd was the school's conference building," Jasper explained.

"How did you convince that _dog_ to do that?" Rose asked curiously while Emmett chuckled at her wording.

"I told her that Chris might get angry if she doesn't," Jasper answered with a shrug.

"You threatened her?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"Jazzy, you really are the sexiest man alive," Alice cooed.

"Which is why he's naked in your world," Edward grumbled. Alice was wearing her pink glasses and had been smiling happily until a second ago.

Emmett and I instantly burst out laughing while Alice blushed and Jasper quickly removed the glasses from her face, probably to prevent Edward from seeing any more.

"He was not naked," Alice defended.

"My apologies. Half-naked," Edward corrected with a sly grin on his face.

"Could we get back to the topic at hand?" Jasper groaned, ignoring me and Emmett as we tried to catch our breath.

Just then, Dylan stormed into the room.

"Jasper, why the hell are you using my girlfriend as a tracking dog?" he asked angrily.

"Why not? Isn't that what she's good at?" I asked, still not fully recovered from my laughing fit.

Dylan's eyes met mine for a brief second. "Was it your idea?"

"Me?" I asked, mocking shock, then innocence, "I would never do such a thing."

"You used the fact that she's scared of you, didn't you?" Dylan asked.

"Did you not just hear what I said?"

"It's hard to believe someone who's never serious."

"We've already had this conversation," I noted.

Dylan narrowed his eyes at me but when he caught sight of the necklace that I still wore around my neck, his expression softened.

"Dylan, it was me. Chris didn't even know anything about it," Jasper came to the rescue.

"And why'd you do it?"

"So we could find out where Irina walks around at night," Jasper stated. "And I think we should go check it out."

"What? Now?" Bella asked.

"Yes, just to see if there's anything there," Jasper answered.

"What are we supposed to do?" Edward asked. "Are we supposed to all just storm in there?"

"No. I think two people should be enough. According to Heidi, Irina seems to be upstairs most of the time."

"And who's supposed to just walk into a building that's hardly ever used?" Rose asked.

"Well, it's wise if we send Alice, since she'll be able to see if there's any danger, and it'd be best to send Dylan with her for a quick exit."

"Let's do it then," I sighed.

A few minutes later, we all stood at a deserted area of the campus. In front of us was a building which was easily high enough to allow someone to overlook any specific part of the campus.

"Why is it so high?" Bella asked.

"The IDM used to have one of their offices here," Edward explained.

"I think the coast is clear," Alice announced after she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in a circular motion. Dylan and her disappeared a moment later.

"Is it really wise to be standing here?" Rose asked after a little bit of silence.

"We should move to the side of the building so we can keep an eye on the front door," Emmett suggested. Since it was a rather smart idea, we did as he said and watched the door with anxious eyes.

After a few more minutes, Alice and Dylan reappeared beside us.

"If we really want to know what's going on in there, we need to be here when Irina goes in again," Dylan said.

"Alice, do you see anything?" Jasper asked her.

Alice concentrated on her power. "No," she sighed in annoyance. "Apparently Irina is still popping Psych Blockers."

"So wait, you're telling us there was nothing in there?" I asked.

"Yes, there was. It looks like a normal office combined with a conference room, except for the fact that whoever uses it seems to be making a potion because there was a giant kettle with bubbling liquid in the corner," Dylan explained.

"And the file that was stolen was on a desk," Alice chirped. "The IDM didn't seem to have any evidence at all, but your statements are in there and..." she looked back at us and it seemed as if she was waiting for it to click inside our heads too.

It didn't.

"Guys, they know about the wand boxes because of our statements," Bella explained with a light roll of her eyes.

"Ahhh," was the collective reply.

"Nice to have that explained," Rose mumbled.

"Hey, I wanted to say something else. I can't go in there with Alice tonight. Well, at least, not without them seeing me," Dylan said.

"Why not?" Jasper asked.

"There are no hiding spots except for the big round table, but I'm too tall for it."

"We could always walk in there—" Rose started but Jasper cut her off.

"No, we don't know what there is and could be, and it might be too dangerous for us to just walk in there. How are you supposed to get out fast if something goes wrong?"

"So what do we do then?" Emmett asked.

"Why not let Emmett go?" I suggested.

"Because Emmett is too big and loud," Alice answered and Emmett grimaced.

"What about Edward?" Bella asked.

"Same problem as Dylan. We'd be seen in there, and I think it's better to actually see the people rather than just listening in on them through the door."

Dylan looked thoughtful before suddenly suggesting, "Chris could do it."

"What?" I asked loudly and looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Bella's much better with her powers, so she should do it."

"What am I supposed to do? It's not like I can turn people into water or something," Bella protested.

"And I could burn Alice."

"I didn't mean your powers, Chris, I meant mine," Dylan barged in and looked pointedly at my necklace.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emmett asked, confused.

Jasper, however, noticed the look Dylan gave me. "You didn't seriously give her a gift stone, did you?" he asked in disbelief.

"A gift stone?" Emmett shouted. "Dude, are you crazy? You of all people shouldn't be giving anyone a gift stone."

"Well I did," replied Dylan. "Now can we just focus on the problem at hand?"

"I can't use teleportation. I accidentally used it once and ended up in my closet," I objected.

"Sounds like Dylan in the fourth grade," Edward murmured with a chuckle.

Dylan shot him a dirty look before looking at me. "I can teach you how to use it."

"Oh great," I grumbled sarcastically, unsure of whether I was looking forward to private lessons with Dylan or not.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Okay first of all, sorry that I jumped around with the POVs so much. Also am I sorry for writing such an all-over-the-place chapter (at least that is what I think it is) I'm currently struggling a bit with filling these chapters with words. I know what to write but not how to put it in the chapter. And I'm kinda getting nervous because it's getting closer and closer to the end... So I just noticed that I didn't even say who won Valentine's King and Queen (that's how the Senior girls call it) It was not Bella and Edward, sadly :( The winners were two of the College students called Collin Sanchez and Miranda Phils, in case you wanted to know that. So this brings me to the next thing...it happens that I let little details slip, because- let's face it- I'm neither Stephenie Meyer nor J.K. Rowling. Yes, yes I know it's a surprise for everyone, but that's jsut the way it is. So my point was actually, that if you have any questions about anything that has been already written just ask and I'll answer. You know things like: _When is Emmett's birthday?_**

**Then I'll say: _Well, Emmett's birthday is two weeks after Alice's on the 1st of April. And to just tell you the truth I'll write Alice's birthday in the next chapter, but I think I will only mention Emmett's in a shourt passage, because I honestly don't want to write two birthdays-.-_**

**Yes, I know that's a very long answer, but if you would ask something like: _Does Dylan like marzipan?_**

**The answer would be: _No, he hates it!_**

**Okay, I guess I don't need to explain that any more...**

**Well, to express my gratitude for all your reviews, I have a niece little preview for you**

* * *

_"Chris, did you even listen to anything I said?" Dylan asked exasperatedly._  
_"No, I'm sorry, I was distracted by the dog sniffing your butt," I replied sweetly and watched Heidi's outraged expression with a smile on my face._  
_"Chris, can't you just be nice for once?"_  
_I got up from the couch and went over to Dylan's king-sized bed. I threw myself on it and stretched my body in a very cat-like manner._  
_"Sorry, I can't do that. I'm just a naughty girl," I purred with a wink._  
_Dylan stared at me wide-eyed and I was pretty sure he was close to drooling._  
_I looked at Heidi with a triumphant expression. If she ever walked up to me again to tell me that I was meaningless to Dylan, I would have to remind her of this moment._

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** Sooo, after reading this, you should review even more to make me update faster.**


	17. Closer to the Truth

_**A/N:**_** Okay, it took me a little longer, but what do you expect? I started a new story, which I started to dislike simply because it is getting so many reviews and this story isn't, but I kind fo still like it, obviously, since I came up with it. Sooo….this chapter is actually a very Chris and Dylan-ish chapter, so in case you hate the two of them…not my problem, but you should read it anyway, because the end might get interesting for all of you.**

**And I know that I already said that, but we are getting closer to the END! I'm excited, my beta ( You And Me Up In A Tree, thank you very mch) is excited and I would be totally down if you weren't excited as well. Right now I'm really hyped up because of what I just wrote and I beg you not to fall asleep during all this cheesiness and romance in between. I just thought that Chris deserves a little happiness too, since Bella's life is kinda of perfect. And seriously…is there really anyone who hates Chris? Maybe people who prefer Bella and don't want to hear Chris' constant drama and whining and stuff, but still Hate? Absurd ( in my eyes at least)**

**So yeah, at this point I want to mention that I am a Supernatural nerd and addict as well as a Twilight-Fanficaholic. Also I am a Harry Potter Fanatic, but I would never dream of writing a FF for that.**

**Why not? You might ask and it is simple. I love Harry Potter and even if there are a few things that I would have done differently, it all played out nicely in the end and I felt fulfilled and satisfied when I closed the last book. That story is done.**

**But Twilight is a whole other thing. I love and respect Stephenie Meyer and her book, but seriously there are so many things wrong in this book.**

**First of all…why is Bella already falling on love with Edward after ONE month? He spent all his time glaring at her and being mean and oh he rescued her…great, but still you do not just fall irrevocabulary in love after one month. Well, I don't have anything against that per se it just kinda threw me off.**

**Next thing was Bella and Edward, being all cheesy all the time. It's cute but also very disgusting (I'm such a bad Twilight-Fan) I always threw the book in a corner when they started and picked it back up to continue reading.**

**And then there is this whole Edward-dumping-Bella thing. I will never ever forgive him that mistake and I will never forgive Bella for being so stupid and believing him. I have the ability to oversee obvious things every now and then because of my complicated thinking, so when I read New Moon the first time, I didn't even get that Edward was dumping Bella, the way I read it, it as already clear to me that he wanted to protect her, so you can imagine that I was a little frustrated with that depressed Bella. I had to read the book twice to get that he actually broke her heart in such a cruel way. **

**And of course there is the end 1) they totally didn't kick the Voluri's ass and 2) I was not content and satisfied when I closed the book, I was like:"What the fuck? Where is the next book?"**

**So yeah, there you have just a few of the reason why I decided to missuse the Twilight characters, which are obviously not mine…**

**Since this A/N is now officially too long to be legal, I'll just present you the chapter and I hope you are all enjoiying it :D**

* * *

**Chris POV**

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday pixie Alice, happy birthday to you," we sang at the top of our lungs as we barged into Alice's room early in the morning.

Instead of finding a surprised Alice in bed, we found a tiny hyper pixie jumping around in her room already fully dressed.

"Aw, you guys! That's so cute that you tried to surprise me," Alice cooed, munching on a chocolate bar.

"Yes, it's wonderful that we _tried,_" I grumbled.

"I told you she wouldn't be surprised," Jasper said with a chuckle as he went over to gently kiss Alice.

"Alice, we got you a present," Rose squeaked and revealed the package.

Alice beamed widely and pounced on Rose to grab the present from her.

"Oh, it's so sparkly and cute!" she squealed.

We'd all pooled our money together to buy her a cute little pink summer dress that sparkled and glittered a little in the light. I'd already forgotten who the designer was, but I distinctly remembered Edward mentioning that it was her favorite designer.

"You guys are all so cute," Alice sniffled and came to hug each of us fiercely.

"You're welcome, Alice," I gasped when it was my turn to be death gripped.

"So," Alice started. "You're all ready to go, and I am too, so let's just go to class."

I looked at the time. At least it was a decent, safe time to go.

"Why haven't you started your lessons with Dylan yet?" Rose asked five minutes later when we were on our way to the school.

"Because neither of us have had time," both Dylan and I answered.

"Then you better get a move on it," Alice chirped. "Irina has apparently forgotten to take the Blockers because I can see her, and I've seen that she'll be going there again in ten days."

"I should be free—" Dylan started, only to be interrupted by the pixie.

"Oh, nevermind what I said. She'll go to the Potionery in ten days, and then...dammit she took them again," she groaned in frustration.

"Well then I guess we still have until Alice sees something," I said.

"That would be...oh yeah, never," Rose commented with a roll of her eyes.

"But I can't think of another way. We can't follow her around — she's in the Green House," Jasper said.

"Can we please change the topic? It's my birthday and I want a party," Alice said.

"How do you plan to pull off a party?" Bella asked her.

"Well, there's always my parents' house, but to give me time to plan and to save Mom the work, I think we should celebrate mine and Emmett's birthdays together," Alice announced.

"Emmett, when is your birthday?" I asked him.

"April 1st," everyone, aside from Emmett, answered with a groan.

"Seriously? Your birthday is on April Fools?" Bella asked with a laugh.

"Why am I even surprised?" I mumbled to myself. "I should've seen that coming."

"And you should fear it too, thanks to the deadly combination of April Fools and his birthday, Emmett thinks he can do whatever he wants," Edward said grimly.

"Well, I'm Emmett's sidekick, so I should be safe," I announced.

"Seriously? You take the job?" Emmett asked in excitement.

"Only if you promise me immunity."

"Deal."

"Deal."

We shook hands to seal the deal while everyone else had slightly scared looks on their faces. I really didn't see their issue. I had done worse things by far, and yet, they were scared of me and Emmett on April Fools. Strange people.

I glanced at my watch again and saw that we'd better hurry up if we wanted to make it to class on time. Bella saw me looking at the time and instantly increased her speed. The rest of us simply fell into step with her without really noticing.

"Okay, guys, I'll probably see some of you later," Dylan said when we stopped in front of our school building. He quickly pulled Alice into a tight hug. "Happy birthday again, little fairy."

"I thought I was a pixie," Alice replied, but Dylan merely placed a quick kiss on her cheek before he took off. That had officially been a cute display of affection from Dylan, and it was only ruined by a slight twinge somewhere in the direction of my guts.

"Let's go, kiddos. We're going to be late," Rose urged.

"We still have ten minutes until classes start," Alice noted.

"Yes, ten precious minutes that we should use to get ready for said classes," I said and led the way into the building, and straight to our class.

"Since when do you care to get ready for class on time, Chris?" Alice asked with suspicion in her eyes.

"I had an epiphany yesterday," I retorted.

"Really? What kind of epiphany?"

"Well, actually, it was Bella's. She said that as long as we concentrate on one event, you won't notice the other." And with that said, I opened the door to our classroom which was in front of us.

Our fellow classmates had put up a big, sparkly "Happy Birthday Alice!" banner and were standing around a table on which sat a huge birthday cake.

"Surprise!" everyone shouted and Alice actually looked surprised.

Bella and Jasper exchanged proud and slightly smug glances since they were the ones who came up with the organization.

The best thing was clearly the cake because Bella and I made it. Well, it was mostly Bella who made it, since she only let me assist, but I still helped.

"More presents?" Alice asked in disbelief while she stared at the cake.

"No, Alice, it's a cake," Rose told her with a giggle. "Bella made it."

The cake was honestly amazing. It was four white layers stacked up and each one looked like a different present. The bottom layer had little textured swirly designs with pink icing to make it look like a bow. On top of that was another 'gift' which had light pink bows on two of the edges that were actually showing. The next one had a rough-looking texture along with more light pink ribbon and then the top one looked like a full present with a big pink bow right on top. All in all, the cake looked delicious.

"That is the most awesome cake I have ever seen," Alice exclaimed and then turned to Bella with brightly shining eyes. "You are fantastic. I don't think that even Mom could've made a better cake than that. It's...I don't even know what to say." Alice looked like she was about to cry.

"Just say thank you and let us eat the cake," Dean shouted from where he stood.

Rose and I agreed with that, while Jasper somehow made a knife and a stack of paper plates appear.

A moment before our teacher walked in, we'd finished eating all of the cake. Of course, not without letting Alice take a picture of it first. It was still a mystery to me why she always had a camera in her bag. I shrugged it off and turned half of my attention to the lesson that was taking place. The other half was definitely dozing off.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"And then she just fell off the roof!" Rose cried and the two of us burst into hysterical laughter. She had just been recounting a story of Irina during their 'classy meeting'.

"You know, instead of laughing about trivial things like that, you should be doing something productive or at least useful. Like me, for instance," Alice said with a slight look of distaste on her face. She was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed as she wrote something in her new notebook.

Edward and Jasper were playing Chess and it looked like Jasper was winning.

"Planning a party is useful?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"Of course it is. How else do you even have a party? But if that isn't good enough for you, then do your homework like Bella," she pointed to her desk where Bella was seated behind a pile of books as she busily scribbled something down.

I went over to her and took one of the papers she'd already written on. "You'll let me copy that, right Bella?" I asked in a way that made it sound like it wasn't even a question.

"No, I won't," she answered absentmindedly, never taking her eyes off her work as she made a hand motion in my direction. The piece of paper flew out of my hand and back toward her. It soared straight into her hand and she just laid it back where it was before without even looking up once.

"Wow, Bella, I'm impressed," Edward said, indeed looking impressed.

That made her look up. "What? Why?" she asked, sounding a little out of it. She kind of looked like a nerd that had just been pulled back into reality. Which was kind of what she was, but normal nerds don't have super hot boyfriends that adore them.

Well, Edward wasn't exactly "super hot", although he did inherit some of his father's hotness genes. Well, maybe not only some, more like a lot, but still...Dylan, on the other hand—

I shook my head to rid myself of that thought.

"You just performed a flotation spell without your wand. That's actually something you start learning in your junior year, so it's pretty amazing," Alice explained.

"Why are all of you so surprised? It's already common knowledge that Bella rocks at this whole magic thing," I said, actually meaning it even if Edward and Alice didn't look convinced.

"Yeah, it's also common knowledge that you suck," Rose quipped with a chuckle.

"As if you're any better." I stuck my nose up in the air and huffed.

The others decided to continue their conversation without me and Rose, seeing as we were for some reason chasing each other around the room.

The days leading up to Emmett and Alice's birthday party were more or less quiet. Emmett was already preparing for his birthday/April Fools while Edward and Bella had decided to spend most of their free time alone and Alice was busily trying to get the rest of us to plan the party with her. Rose volunteered and so did Jasper. I was helping Emmett get the things he needed. That was a lot more fun for me than Alice's party planning and it kept me away from my room and my mind away from Bella. I really didn't need any kind of scenarios in my head. The good thing was that I hadn't gotten pulled into Bella's head again since my near drowning experience.

"We still need chlorine," Emmett announced after quickly checking his list again.

Emmett still hadn't exactly let me in on his plans, but I was okay with it as long as he didn't plan on bleaching my hair or something like that. Even if I had to carry all of his purchases, which I found rather ridiculous. I mean, seriously, which one of us was the big grizzly bear-shaped guy? Emphasis on the 'guy'.

"Okay, I'll be in your room at six AM sharp," Emmett said to me when he left me in front of my room later that night.

I saluted him and turned on my heel to head back to my room. On my way back, I let out one yawn after another. Shopping was definitely exhausting, even with Emmett. Mainly because he made me carry everything. I went into my room to gather my things and then rushed into one of the bathrooms to wash away all of this sweat.

Almost an hour later, I was trotting back to my room. A few minutes later, I was beneath my warm, comfortable covers, snuggling deeply into my pillows.

I fell asleep almost instantly.

Suddenly my dream about beach trips and sunscreen was interrupted by a movement right next to me, accompanied by a sleepy groan.

I didn't bother opening my eyes. Instead, I smiled happily and let my hand trail over his naked chest. He let out something that sounded like a grunt. I suppressed a giggle and continued to let my fingers travel over his chest, enjoying the feel of his smooth, warm skin. The only reply I received was another grunt. This time, I had an even harder time holding in my chuckles and the bed shook a little with my almost silent laughter. I attempted to do the same thing again, but this time, his hand caught mine.

"Stop that, it tickles," he spoke in a husky voice.

"But I like you grunting," I replied, amused.

"Just sleep," he slurred, probably already far away in La La Land.

I propped myself up on my elbow to watch him. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping which made me almost feel sorry for disturbing his peace.

Almost.

I poked him in his side and he twitched. I poked him again and once more, he caught my hand.

"You really need to stop doing that," he said, his voice still husky as he pulled me close enough to be able to kiss him.

I internally rejoiced and kissed him back with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. I bit his bottom lip softly and he chuckled quietly.

"Easy there, Bella, you're getting kind of greedy," he murmured.

"That is hardly my fault when you are such a great kisser," I replied innocently.

"True," he agreed and pulled me back to him to continue where we'd left off—

Wait, wait, wait. We? Bella? Tousled bronze hair?

I jolted up in my bed with a scream bursting through my lips. A scream so loud and piercing that it put every horror movie actress to shame.

In the back of my mind, I felt something that didn't suit my current emotional climate.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked frantically as he threw open my door, wearing nothing more than his pajama pants. Bella followed in behind him, but thankfully she was at least wearing her usual sleeping attire.

I didn't stop screaming. Instead, I threw my pillows at Edward.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people? All I wanted was a peaceful slumber, not to be mentally raped by pretty boy Cullen over there!" I shrieked, emphasizing each word with a pillow. Or at least that was what I intended to do, but I ran out of pillows after the first sentence.

"Chris, what are you talking about?" Bella asked gently.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Edward asked, repeating pretty much the same question as the two of them came toward my bed.

I moved so fast they didn't even see me as I jumped out of it.

"A lot of things are wrong. Let me list the top 3 things that are wrong in the world," I screeched.

Somewhere in the back of my mind was again something that didn't fit my emotional state. I came to the conclusion that it was Bella's reaction.

"In spot three we have global warming. Not only is it horrible, but it's also very wrong of the human beings, and witches for that matter, to destroy their own planet like that," I started listing, breathing heavily and probably giving off the impression of a mad scientist. "In second place is the fact that I'm longing for something that I can't handle yet. Constantly wanting something, but knowing you don't know what to do with it once you have it sucks. You should really know how I feel, Edward," I took a deep breath. "But what is really really _really_wrong is the fact that I know how you feel. This isn't the first time, but if I hadn't woken up, nobody knows how much I would've actually gotten to feel. Mental deflowering is _not_ how I imagined it."

"Chris, could you just calm down and explain exactly what you mean?" Edward asked, looking at me in a very confused manner.

In that moment, a curse that usually only came from me left Bella's mouth. That really didn't help the issue.

"You know, I feel very uncomfortable with the fact that I know so much about Edward. I know what he smells like, I know what he feels like, and I freaking know what he _tastes_ like!" I started shrieking again.

It was really a wonder how no one had appeared yet. The house supervisors apparently didn't take their jobs very seriously. Otherwise, Edward wouldn't have been here in the first place or he would already be gone.

Now Edward also seemed to get what I meant and looked around awkwardly as he stepped backwards, putting some more distance between us.

"Why were you even in my mind anyway?" Bella asked, sounding like she was trying to turn the whole thing back to me.

"I wasn't intentionally. _You_ pulled me in again, and no, I don't know why that always happens to me."

"Maybe it's because you don't have any strong emoti—"

"Don't even finish that sentence. This was not at all emotional. It was definitely turning animalistic."

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?" Edward asked with a sigh.

"No, I'm not. I find it very, _very_ disturbing to know that Bella likes nibbling on your bottom lip and that you like to suck on a certain spot right below her ear," I retorted. The two of them looked at the ground and coughed. "Yes, you can be embarrassed about it, but does nobody think of me? I have to live with the fact that I might end up having sex with Edward in my mind just because the two of you aren't in control of your hormones. You've only been together for fives months, can't you wait another five?"

"Chris, now you're overreacting," Bella noted.

"Whatever. Both of you get out of my room and go to _sleep_," I grumbled as I crawled back into my bed. "Edward, put your shirt back on, and no more kissing. You should know now I'm going to be watching."

I heard Edward groan and Bella giggle but decided to ignore it. Soon, I fell back asleep. Unfortunately, the feel of Edward's lips haunted me in my dreams.

I woke up to the sound of an all-too-familiar voice. "For some reason, I just knew that you wouldn't be up on time," Emmett noted, speaking in his usual booming loud voice.

I opened my eyes slowly only to see him towering over my bed, looking as if he expected me to wake and jump up immediately.

"I'm sorry, but I was mind raped last night," I mumbled, still half-asleep.

"Do I even want to know what that means?" Emmett asked.

"No, probably not."

"Okay. Get dressed. I'll meet you outside in fifteen minutes," Emmett instructed, sounding very serious for the first time ever in my presence.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, hastily jumping off my bed when Emmett had almost reached the door.

He turned to look at me in question.

"Happy birthday!" I smiled and threw myself into his arms, knowing that he'd never let me fall since he was all for hugs.

"Thanks, little one," he grinned and let go of me.

"Hey, I am not little," I protested.

Emmett looked down on me with a raised eyebrow and I rolled my eyes, dismissing the topic.

Fifteen minutes later, I skipped out of my room door and followed Emmett, who didn't waste any time with explaining what his plan was. As long as he didn't pull a prank on me, I honestly didn't care.

We were in front of Rosalie's room when Emmett pulled his wand out. Only then did I notice that he wasn't carrying much with him.

"Emmett, why did we go shopping yesterday if we don't need any of that crap?" I hissed.

"I might need it some day," he replied with a shrug and carefully tapped the door with his wand.

The door opened and we quietly entered Rose's room. It was all red and white like mine, but hers looked a lot more personalized. She had three mirrors hanging around her room and surrounding each of them were pictures of her, Jasper, and Emmett. There were also a few pictures with her and Alice, and a couple of group pictures with the whole clique in them. I had to stop myself from hugging Rose when I saw that she had a picture of me and Bella hanging by her heart-shaped mirror beside her bathroom door.

It was very cute. Bella and I were sitting at the fountain, both of us sticking our heads in the same book. I definitely couldn't remember anyone taking a picture of that, but I should probably get used to the fact that they always had a camera with them. I was so occupied with looking at the pictures that I didn't even notice Emmett come back until he was standing right in front of me.

"What did you do?" I asked him quietly.

"You'll see," he whispered back mysteriously and then crept to Rose, who was sleeping soundly. He tapped his wand gently on her head, causing her to wiggle around a little. He mumbled something that I couldn't hear, but for some reason, I already started worrying if I was going to survive Rose's outburst. "Okay, I'm done," Emmett announced in a whisper, pulling me out of the room and dragging me across the house to Alice's room. "Here, put this in her body lotion," he muttered and tossed me something.

I awkwardly caught it and was highly disgusted when I realized that he wanted me to fill Alice's body lotion with mayonnaise.

"Seriously, Emmett? That's gross," I complained, only to be hushed by him, so I just did as he asked. Meanwhile, Emmett was fumbling around on Alice's dresser.

"Are you done?" he asked me after a while.

I closed the bottle and nodded at him before he grasped my arm lightly and began dragging me along again. This time, we only went down the hall.

As soon as we entered the room, I recognized it as Dylan's. It didn't even look like his room at his parents' house, but somehow, I just knew. Maybe I should go see someone about that. As far as I could see in the darkness, the room was different colors. The thing that caught my attention was the canvases. He'd painted Alice as a pixie on one of them, which I found absolutely adorable.

"Stop staring and get to work," Emmett yelled in a whisper.

I turned and looked at what he was doing. He was standing next to Dylan's desk, beside the chair, which had Dylan's school uniform on it. Emmett pulled out a bottle that looked like perfume. I remembered Emmett buying it yesterday at the pet shop.

"Spray this on his uniform; I'll be right back," Emmett told me and tossed me the bottle before tiptoeing to Dylan's bed, where he was quietly snoring.

I came to the conclusion that I probably wasn't holding perfume in my hand, but started spraying it on Dylan's clothes anyway. I'd expected it to smell bad, only to be surprised when the scent that entered my nose was quite pleasant.

"What's going on?" I heard Dylan's sleep voice ask.

Emmett let out a silent curse and quickly rushed over to me while Dylan started sitting up, his eyes still closed. "Come on," Emmett hissed and pulled me with him again. Instead of opening the door, though, Emmett just went through it, pulling me through it as well. It was a very strange feeling, but not exactly unpleasant.

"Emmett!" we heard a scream coming from Dylan's room.

Emmett just laughed to himself and gestured for me to follow him. He led me to what I assumed was Jasper's room, and this time, he didn't bother opening the door. Instead, he just went through it, leaving me to stand outside.

I yawned. This could at least be a little more interesting.

After a few minutes, Emmett finally emerged from Jasper's room.

"Are you going to tell me what you did?" I asked him quietly.

Emmett shook his head with a giant dimply grin on his face, causing me to sigh and roll my eyes at him.

Just then, I noticed that he was on his way to Edward's room.

"Edward's not in his room," I informed him.

Emmett turned around with a surprised expression on his face. "How do you know?"

"There is a reason why I was mind raped last night. Edward's in Bella's room."

Emmett's grin widened. "Seriously?"

I nodded.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Emmett all but ran to the exit of the Black House, only to lead the way back to the Blue House.

"Emmett, do you even have an idea of what to do?" I hissed at him when we intruded Bella's room.

"Um...no. You?" he asked with a sheepish smile on his face.

I put on my thoughtful face. "Sorry, I don't have any ideas either," I told him apologetically with a shrug after a minute of thinking.

"Well that sucks," Emmett complained with a quiet groan.

"Didn't you have a plan for Edward?" I asked.

"Sure I did, but I never thought to come up with an idea for Bella," he answered.

"Just do what you originally planned then," I sighed and gestured toward Edward's sleeping form.

Emmett grinned once again before rummaging around in his bag. After a few minutes, he pulled out something that looked vaguely like candy.

"Candy? Seriously Emmett?" I asked in disbelief.

He hushed me once more and I rolled my eyes as he slowly crept toward Edward. Somehow he managed to get the candy into Edward's mouth without waking him up and he turned to me with a victorious smile.

My voice was impatient when I asked, "Are we done?"

"Well, since neither of us can think of a prank to pull on your sister, I guess we are," Emmett answered, his beaming smile still in place.

No wonder the others decided not to get him any presents. This seemed to be much more exciting for Emmett than some lame-ass birthday present. Or maybe the present was that they let him play pranks on him, because I'm pretty sure there were plenty of protection spells they could've used to save themselves from whatever Emmett had planned for them.

Emmett left quickly, mumbling something about wanting to be there when Rose got out of the shower. It sounded perverted, but the way he said it made me think it probably had something to do with him creeping into Rose's bathroom earlier.

I decided to start getting ready for school and I had more than enough time to do so. Just when I was done putting on my uniform, I felt a jolt of shock go through me. I grinned to myself, knowing that it had come from Bella. Whatever Emmett did, it scared her for a second.

I was sitting at a table downstairs, quickly doing the Math homework I'd forgotten to do before while eating my breakfast when I saw Bella and Edward approaching. I looked up, eager to see what Emmett had done to Edward. When I looked at him, he looked exactly like he always did. The disappointment must have been clear on my face.

"Don't worry, whatever you guys did, it worked," Bella reassured me when she saw my expression.

"Really? What is it?" I asked her.

Bella pressed her lips tightly together and turned slightly away from Edward so he couldn't see that she was trying hard not to laugh.

Edward wasn't stupid, though, and threw a glare in her direction before he turned to glare at me.

"You shouldn't look at me like that," I defended myself. "It wasn't my idea, and as a matter of fact, I don't even know what Emmett did."

Edward opened his mouth and quickly shut it again, but unfortunately for him, he didn't do it fast enough.

A bark escaped his mouth before he ground his teeth together again.

I looked at him with wide eyes while Bella gave up trying to hide her laughter and let it out.

"It's...been like that...all morning," she informed me in between her giggles and snorts.

"You mean he's been barking the whole time?" I asked with a grin.

"No. Every kind of animal noise. When we woke up this morning, he roared, and after that, he started bleating like a goat."

Edward didn't look too amused about that, but I found it hilarious and immediately joined in with Bella's laughter. After a while, we managed to calm ourselves down, while Edward sat there, his lips in a tight line and a dangerous expression on his face. I'm pretty sure it was reserved for Emmett.

We finished our breakfast and went out to meet the others, only to discover they weren't waiting for us this time.

"Where are they?" Bella asked, sounding surprised. We'd both gotten used to the fact that someone out of our group was _always_ waiting in front of our house for us.

Edward motioned with his hands toward the Black House, so we decided to go to their rooms and see where all of them were. Jasper's room was on the lowest level, so we went there first.

Bella knocked carefully, causing me to roll my eyes and open the door.

Jasper's room was surprisingly tidy, and somehow had the same calming effect he did. The room was filled with all kinds of shades of brown. I looked around and saw Jasper lying on the floor next to his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Jasper, are you okay?" Bella asked him cautiously.

"Sure I am. I'm just very confused," he answered slowly. Somehow he sounded like he was stoned or something. What had Emmett done to him?

I went over to where he was laying and inspected him closely. He was already dressed for school and his eyes didn't look bloodshot or glazed and he didn't smell like alcohol or anything, so I figured he wasn't actually stoned or drunk.

"What are you so confused about?" I asked him.

"Nothing specific. I just feel confused."

"Well, if it's nothing then why don't you just get up from the floor?"

"I'm on the floor?" Jasper asked in surprise and sat up.

I cast a questioning look at Edward and Bella. Bella only shrugged, letting me know that she also had no clue what was wrong with Jasper, but Edward looked like he knew.

"What is it, Edward?" I asked him with a sigh.

Edward only glared at me and grinned sarcastically. Oh yeah, he couldn't speak.

I sighed once more. "Well, could you at least help him get up off the floor?" I said to him in annoyance.

Edward rolled his stupid green eyes but strolled over and grasped Jasper's arm, setting him upright.

"Thanks man," Jasper breathed drowsily. "I honestly had no clue how I was gonna manage getting up."

"Did Emmett drug you?" Bella asked him suspiciously.

"What? No. I don't do drugs," Jasper answered, still sounding drowsy, but a little more awake than a moment ago.

"Um, I asked you if...oh, you know what? Nevermind."

"Lets go get Rose," I suggested. The others agreed to that and we quickly made our way to Rose's room. Even from a distance, we could all hear the shrieking.

"What did you do?" Bella asked me.

"I didn't do anything in Rose's room," I told her defensively.

"I meant you and Emmett."

"Oh. Well, to be honest, Emmett didn't tell me a single thing. He just gave me stuff. The only thing I actually know is that Alice—" I shuddered in disgust and decided not to tell them just yet.

"Yes?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"You probably made Alice very angry," Jasper noted.

"Maybe," I said. "But I know for sure Dylan's angry." Now that we stood in front of Rose's room, nobody was brave enough to make the first move to go in.

Edward grunted and rolled his eyes before he reached for the door handle and opened the door.

We all looked at the scene in front of us with varying degrees of surprise. Rose was chasing Emmett around the room, throwing anything and everything within her grasp at him.

"Um, guys," Bella interfered.

Emmett stopped short which enabled Rose to hit him in the head with a water bottle. Then she let out another shriek and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door as she closed it.

"I'm sensing she's not in the best of moods," I mumbled.

Emmett chuckled quietly.

"Damn straight I'm not in a good mood at all," I heard Rose call angrily from the bathroom. She came back out with her hair in a tight ponytail which was unlike her.

And then I saw it and somehow managed to disguise my snort as a sneeze, but Edward just had to open his big mouth, letting a loud moo escape, which caused Bella, Emmett, and I to all burst out laughing. Jasper and Rose just looked at Edward in confusion.

The good thing is, I had a reason to laugh without Rose getting angry at me. The bad thing was that I was laughing more because of the fact that Rose's beautiful long blond locks now had a strong green tint to them.

"Emmett, because of you, I can't even see how I look. Of all the pranks you could pull, you just _had_ to make me invisible to mirrors?" Rose complained, standing in front of one of her mirrors. The mirror didn't show any sign of a reflection.

I looked at Bella, who was biting her lip to prevent herself from laughing again. _I guess Rose doesn't know her hair's green,_ I thought to her.

_How would she? I don't think Emmett would've told her,_ she thought back.

_Should we tell her?_

_Only if you want to die._

I nodded at that. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let Rose know.

_Maybe we should let Alice handle that. She's the only one who is just as crazy as Rose, if not even worse, when it comes to beauty,_ Bella suggested.

Now that was a brilliant idea.

"Rose, maybe we should go to Alice. I'm sure she can help you," I said sweetly, interrupting Rose's cursing at Emmett while Jasper looked as if he was still trying to figure out if her hair was green or not.

Rose perked up at that. "That's a good idea. Lets go. Fast," she ordered and practically pushed us all out.

We quickly made our way to Alice's room, which was filled with even more shrieking. I was sure I'd need hearing aids after today.

"What did you do to her?" Bella asked, this time looking at Emmett.

"Ask Chris what she did," he told her with a grin.

Bella turned to me with raised eyebrows while Edward's eyes widened when he looked at Emmett. Too bad he couldn't tell us what he'd just heard in Emmett's head.

"What? I only did what you told me to do," I complained as we stepped into the room where Dylan was sitting on Alice's couch with a mirror in front of his face and Alice was gathering her things in a hurry, letting out a colorful string of curses, all directed at Emmett.

"Alice!" Rose hissed immediately. "You need to help me. Now. I can't do my hair because Emmett, the idiot, made me invisible to mirrors," Rose started whining right away.

Alice halted in her movement and turned to our little group, her eyes immediately zoning in on Emmett and narrowing. "Emmett, do you have _any_ idea how much this lotion costs? I had to throw away the whole bottle just because of you, and I had to shower twice which is why I am now late. I've never been late to class in my entire life!" Alice yelled at him.

Emmett shrugged. "I didn't fill the lotion, that was Chris. I did that," he pointed at her face.

I'd thought Alice's face was red because she was a little flustered from running around the room, like she was just doing, but now that I looked more closely, I saw that it was red. Seriously red. As a matter of fact, the color had increased while she was talking to Emmett, so now she looked like she'd dipped her face in a pot of red paint.

Alice looked at him in horror and quickly grabbed the mirror out of Dylan's hand.

I heard Bella gasp and Edward chuckle with his mouth closed, but I'd been looking at Jasper, who still hadn't made it into the room. I wondered if it was healthy to walk against the door frame more than once. It seemed like he just couldn't get into the room probably. I was about to consider helping him out when he finally made it through the doorway.

I turned back to see what the others were laughing about. It was just too much and I burst out laughing along with Bella. I heard an amused meow come from Edward as well.

Jasper was acting like he was high, Edward was imitating a zoo, Rose had green hair and didn't know it, Alice's face was as red as a firetruck, and Dylan had whiskers.

Seriously, how could a person not laugh at that?

"This is so not funny," Alice screeched, causing us to laugh even more. Even Rose was laughing, but I knew she'd stop as soon as she discovered that her hair was no longer beautifully blond. "Emmett, what have you done to my face?" Alice shrieked, her face turning even redder.

"Nothing too bad," Emmett answered, chuckling at her expense. "It's color changing makeup. It changes colors with your mood. Be neutral and it'll be like you're not even wearing it."

Alice looked at him in disbelief and then rushed into her bathroom, all while cursing Emmett.

He didn't seem to be bothered by this though. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the outcome of his work. He actually looked rather relaxed. "Alice, it won't come off for the next eight hours," he informed her.

A minute later, Alice reappeared in the room. "You mean I had to walk around like this all day?" she asked.

Emmett nodded.

"How am I supposed to hand out the invitations like this?"

"Fix my hair and I could do it for you," Rose offered.

Alice looked at her and frowned. "I don't think I have any blond hairdye, and I can't turn it back," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked in a shocked voice and stormed to Alice's dresser. The thing was, she couldn't see herself, which made her howl in frustration.

Dylan watched the whole thing with an annoyed expression. "Seriously, Rose, you shouldn't be complaining. Your hair isn't even that green. At least you don't have whiskers on your_face,_" he told her.

Now he'd done it.

Rose turned slowly in Emmett's direction. "My. Hair. Is. Green?" she asked in a low, threatening, dangerously calm voice.

Emmett sensed that trouble was brewing and immediately bailed through the wall before anyone could stop him.

"My hair is green?" Rose squeaked, now sounding like she was about to cry.

"It only has a green tint. It's still more blond than green," Bella tried to comfort her, patting her arm in sympathy.

"It's really not that bad," Dylan agreed with a nod.

I looked at him. The whiskers on his face looked kind of cute and the way he wiggled his nose as he looked in the mirror again only added to that.

"Okay, I think we all need to calm down a little," Jasper said and went to throw himself next to Dylan on the couch.

"Um, I'm not sure if it's escaped your attention, but my hair is _green_ and Alice looks like some sort of freaky color show," Rose hissed.

Alice was now a purplish color. I wondered what emotion that was.

"What about me? I have whiskers and Edward sounds like a cat."

Once again, Edward made the mistake of opening his mouth. This time, it was a tweeting sound that came out.

"Sorry, I meant bird," Dylan corrected.

"You don't have as good of a reason as the others to complain this much. Emmett decided to do you a favor and had me spray perfume on your clothes," I informed Dylan.

He looked at me in confusion. "Perfume? What kind of perfume? I don't smell anything," he said, sniffing his shirt.

"Are you wearing the uniform that was laying on your chair?"

"Yeah, but I still don't smell anything."

"But I practically drenched the thing in perfume!" I insisted.

Jasper leaned over to Dylan and sniffed. "Nothing," he then said.

"I don't think I believe you. Who knows if your nose is still working after you ran into the door frame fives times in a row?"

Edward went over to Dylan and sniffed, then shook his head.

"Seriously, what's wrong with all of you? I know I sprayed the perfume on _that_ uniform," I said in annoyance and marched over to Dylan myself. As soon as I was in his range, I was hit with the overwhelming smell. I remembered that I thought it smelled good earlier when I sprayed it on his clothes, but now I could actually smell it properly. I slowly stepped closer to Dylan, sniffing the air. "You should get your noses checked," I said absentmindedly to Edward and Jasper. Not only was the smell good, but it was _very_ attractive. I felt like I just had to get closer to the source of it. I took the hem of Dylan's sleeve and breathed in deeply. "You really don't smell that?" I asked breathlessly.

"Chris, none of us can smell anything out of the ordinary. You started sniffing the air like crazy when you were still five steps away from him," Alice informed me.

I ignored her. I was getting far too excited by this scent. This wasn't even excitement anymore, it was a serious turn on. My mind decided then to take a vacation, which meant that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was in a trance, in my own little world, when I was suddenly yanked back to reality.

"Chris? Chris!" a hand on my shoulder started shaking me.

I opened my eyes slowly and turned to see Rosalie looking at me with a worried yet amused expression.

"You sure you don't want to take Dylan to another room before you get too frisky?" she asked me with a grin.

I frowned at her. Why would I—

That's when I realized that I was straddling Dylan's lap. I turned back to him and saw him looking at me with an expression that I couldn't place. His shirt was open and my hands were both rested on his sculpted, naked chest.

"What the fuck?" I screamed and jumped up, only to fall backward on my precious butt.

"Yeah, good question," Alice nodded. "I mean, one minute you're telling us there's some scent that no one else can smell, and the next, you're kissing Dylan's neck and before we knew it, you were on his lap, biting his earlobe and undressing him."

I gawked at her in horror. I'm pretty sure that all of Bella's blushes from the day we were born couldn't compare to my face at this point.

"Not to mention you were purring," Bella added.

"I—what?" I asked in confusion, looking at her.

"Yeah, you were purring. And hissing. And roaring quietly. And I think I even heard a meow or two."

"In a weird way, it was totally hot. I might've even reconsidered my sexuality because of the way you went at it, but then I thought about it more intently and realized that if your foreplay is always that aggressive, I don't think I'd be able to keep up for long. It was hot to watch, but also kind of scary," Rose commented.

"Those were the most animalistic sex noises I've ever heard," Alice agreed.

I didn't dare look at Dylan. I just sat there, petrified on the floor at his feet.

He moved then and the scent I would now probably recognize anywhere went straight into my nose again. I could practically hear the click in my head when everything turned back to instinct as if there were a switch for that.

"Edward, Jasper, get her out of here," I heard Alice's voice in the distance.

I felt one set of arms sling around me. I struggled against them, having this inhuman need to...ravish Dylan. Not the best choice of words, but the truth.

"Chris, I think you need to get a grip on your hormones," Jasper said calmly, yet at the same time, still confusedly. He put his hand on my head, letting me calm down momentarily.

Edward dragged me out of the room and set me down a few metres away from the door in the corridor.

"Are you alright?" Jasper asked, not looking at either me nor Edward. He was talking to no one. He must be very confused.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What just happened?" I asked.

Instead of giving me a proper answer, Jasper walked back in the direction of Alice's room. He walked passed it and accidentally went into another room. He stumbled right out a few moments later, and quickly closed the door, cutting off the yelling that was coming from inside.

I shook my head at him. "Did Emmett pull a prank on me too?" I asked Edward darkly.

Edward pulled out his wand and moved it quickly as if to write in the air. A few seconds later, I realized that that was exactly what he had done.

_I don't think so,_ floated in the air in glowing letters.

"Then what was it?"

_As far as I could tell from your non-existent thoughts at that moment, it was your animal spirit again. I think your losing control of it when it just breaks out like that._

I huffed at that just as our group came out of Alice's room. Rose had somehow managed to hide her hair underneath of a beanie atop her head. Alice had a mirror in one hand and a makeup tube in the other, while adding another layer on her face. I hoped for her sake that she took at least one more tube of makeup for that. Dylan was walking behind Bella, Rose, and Alice, who was pulling Jasper along casually as he almost wandered in the wrong direction again.

"Did she calm down?" Bella asked softly.

Edward nodded.

I frowned. They were acting as if I'd tried to kill Dylan. Okay, maybe it could have been deadly for him if I had turned again, but that wasn't the point.

"Then lets hurry. We have ten minutes to get to class," Alice urged.

Edward nodded and grabbed me by the arm. I had to walk in front of him while the other girls stood between me and Dylan. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at them.

We made it a few metres south of the house before Emmett suddenly reappeared with Heidi by his side.

"Hey guys!" he greeted, acting as if nothing was wrong.

I instantly made a move to jump on him but Edward was faster and held me in place before I could do anything. The fact that he was touching me definitely wasn't a good thing because I still remembered the way Bella felt when he was touching her. I pushed that thought aside and concentrated on hissing at Emmett and ignoring Heidi as she skipped happily to Dylan's side.

"Emmett, you big oaf, what did you do to me?" I asked him. Even after Edward's explanation, I was still under the impression that this wasn't my fault. I mean, come on. There was a smell that only I could smell and the next thing I know, I'm undressing Dylan?

"I didn't do anything to you. I promised to spare you and I'm not the type to go against my word," Emmett said with honest innocence as he looked nervously at Rose and Alice who were glaring daggers at him.

Behind them, I heard Heidi sneezing like crazy. She sounded more like a dog than a human being.

"What did you have me spray on Dylan's clothes?" I demanded.

Emmett opened his mouth to answer when suddenly we were interrupted by Heidi snarling.

"What is it with all the animal noises today?" Rose asked, annoyed.

Heidi paid no attention to her. She looked like she was about ready to rip Dylan apart piece by piece. He seemed to notice this as well and quickly beamed away, leaving the spot where he had just been, empty.

Heidi returned to normal and looked around a little disoriented. Then she stalked off, mumbling something about a reeking smell.

I watched her leave before turning back to Emmett. "Why is she the only other one who can smell it?" I asked him.

"She's a dog, of course she can smell the cat pheromones thanks to her animal features. We just don't get to smell—oh," Emmett stopped his explanation with a sound of realization as he looked at me. "Oh shit, I totally forgot about that. I'm so sorry, Chris," he apologized with a guilty expression on his face.

"What for?" He had officially managed to confuse me.

"Cat pheromones. I just wanted to deny Dylan and Heidi any kind of contact for the day, but I forgot about you. I didn't think you'd be able to smell it, though. I thought you were human."

"I am human, thank you very much," I muttered sourly.

"So, wait, Chris didn't actually turn, she was just highly attracted to Dylan because of the pheromones?" Bella asked.

Emmett nodded.

"So Dylan has two girls chasing him today. One wants to chase him up a tree and the other one wants to play," Alice giggled and then turned yellow. Apparently the makeup couldn't be covered up.

On our way to school, everyone complained and cursed because of Emmett's pranks. It turns out, he put a Confusion Charm on Jasper that will last for the rest of the day, and Rose's hair color was supposed to be able to be washed out tonight. Edward's normal speech, however, would never return.

At least that's what Emmett told us before Edward threatened him with his eyes. Then Emmett quickly changed his mind, saying that Edward should be back to normal by the afternoon. Somehow we manged to survive the whole day, even if people looked at us funny. Well, not _us,_ just Rose, Alice, and Jasper. Edward was able to weasel his way out of the strange gaping by not opening his mouth.

Jasper had difficulties sitting down on his chair and ended up landing on the floor twice. He also ran into three more door frames and once, he wrote his notes on the table rather than his notebook. Alice took care of him as much as she could and saved him from the humiliation of a lot more embarrassing situations. Although it was a little weird to see her leading him out of the girl's bathroom.

Even though Alice's color changing face was weird, people thought it was part of her party spirit. She handed out invitations for the party, turning every color the rainbow has to offer and entertaining all those kids by doing so. Alice, the living disco ball.

At the end of the day, we all sat exhausted in Alice's room. We'd just gotten out of the classy meetings and it seemed like they hadn't been pleasant for any of us. The Pyros had spent the time heating the whole place back up because it had cooled down too much over the last few days. That definitely wasn't something I wanted to do again any time soon.

Apparently Alice was having problems telling the difference between future and present now. She'd been using her ability so much lately that she was just getting flashes of the future without willing herself to look for them.

So we all just hung around lazily in Alice's room — me keeping a safe distance from Dylan — and listened to her list one future event after another.

"Bella will trip going up the stairs in three weeks. Some kid I don't even know will try to steal in a wand shop. The weather on April eleventh is going to be unexpectedly nice. Irina will be creeping out at night on the thirty-first of April. Bella is going to be a stunning—"

"Whoa, hold up," Emmett cut her off.

Alice blinked and seemed to be back to reality again. "What?" she asked.

"Irina? Thirty-first? Creeping out?" Emmett listed.

"Um, yeah," Alice answered.

"Awesome. Can I watch when Dylan tries to each Chris?" Emmett asked excitedly.

Both Dylan and I answered with an instant, "No," then looked at each other before I turned away, blushing.

"Are you sure about the thirty-first, Alice?" Jasper asked her. I could tell he was starting to be himself again because he was actually looking at Alice while he spoke to her now.

Alice swayed lightly from side to side, looking intently at Jasper, though her eyes didn't seem very focused. A strange thing happened this time. Her eyes didn't just glaze over like they usually did, but they also become kind of milky. Then a few seconds later, they turned back to normal and Alice's eyes became focused again.

"What just happened?" Bella and Rose asked at the same time. For some reason, everyone turned to Edward for an answer.

Edward looked at us with wide eyes and shrugged.

"I really don't know what you guys are talking about, but to answer your previous question, yes, I am sure about the thirty-first," Alice said, looking at all of us with a confused expression.

"You totally just turned Lilith on us," I told her. Everyone turned to look at me with raised eyebrows.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alice asked.

"That means Chris is being a nerd," Rose snickered. "A _Supernatural_ nerd."

"I am not a nerd," I denied.

"Of course you are, but that is hardly the point here," Rose turned to Alice. "Your eyes went all blank and white a minute ago."

"What?" Alice shrieked and jumped up to inspect her eyes in the mirror.

"Alice, calm down. Everything is fine now," Jasper soothed gently. "Except you're turning green."

Alice sank down to the floor next to Jasper.

"Your eyes turned white when you looked into the future," he told her quietly.

She frowned slightly. "Is my gift broken?" she suddenly asked with shock all over her face.

"That's not likely," Edward told her.

"Not necessarily true," Dylan piped. "Unstable abilities tend to get out of hand and bring some weird symptoms along. Like the green guy in your class."

"But my gift isn't unstable," Alice said, her bottom lip trembling as she looked at Jasper for reassurance.

"You can't know that yet. Abilities aren't only classified in groups but also their state. There are gifts which are really powerful, but tend to get unstable over the years depending how often you use them, and there are other that weaken over time. Then there are the really stables ones. Most people are stable," Dylan continued his lecture.

Alice jumped up off the floor again. "I'm going to Daddy now," she affirmed in a way that made her sound like a kid.

"Why do I get the feeling we're all gonna be dragged along with you?" I murmured with a sigh.

"Because you are," Alice snapped back and looked at us expectantly. We all groaned and heaved ourselves up to accompany her.

"Okay, once again, and slowly this time, please," Carlisle said when Alice stormed into the house and threw herself in his arms, starting to whine.

"I'm going to die, Daddy," she cried.

"What?"

All of us looked at her in surprise. Had she seen something on our way that we hadn't?

"Sweetie, where did you get that crazy idea from?" Carlisle asked her gently and led her to the couch to sit. He knelt in front of her and waited for her to calm down a little.

"Dylan said that—" she started, but then stopped and started sobbing instead.

What an overreaction.

Jasper was immediately by her side, comforting her, while Carlisle turned to Dylan with an angry expression.

"Dylan, what have you done this time?" he thundered so loud that Bella and I flinched. Even Edward seemed to be startled for a second.

"I—" Dylan began, but Carlisle just continued with his rant.

"I told you and Edward to stop scaring your sister with all of your nonsense. You both know Alice is sensitive to these types of things and that she'll take them seriously."

"Dad, I didn't even tell her that she was gonna die!" Dylan complained and cast an annoyed glance in Alice's direction.

Esme was now entering the living room as well, probably having heard her husband shouting.

"But you said unstable...a-and weak...and..." Alice squeaked out between her sobs.

I rolled my eyes and breathed out. "Alice, he was only talking about unstable gifts," I threw in with a groan.

"Yes, and the description suits my current situation. My gift is getting out of hand and my eyes are turning white. I'm going to die," Alice wailed. At that, we all sighed. Alice was definitely one for the dramatics.

Esme turned to her daughter. "Alice, darling, could it be that you're overreacting?" she asked in that gentle, maternal way of hers.

"No, I'm not. My gift isn't working properly anymore. I'm seeing things without looking for them, and when I do concentrate on an event, the others said my eyes turn white."

Carlisle rose his eyebrows at that and quickly dashed up the stairs. He came back a few moments later with a thick book in his hands. Hastily, he flicked through the pages and then sighed as he knelt back down in front of his daughter and took both of her hands in his. "Alice, you really are overreacting. There is nothing wrong with you, I promise," he said, looking intently at her.

"But my gift—"

"Is expanding. You know one of the reasons for the whole fair preparation is to use your gifts more in order to train them," he said and Alice nodded. "Well then you shouldn't be too surprised that it's changing. Apparently you've been working quite a lot with it."

Alice nodded again.

"See, there is no reason for you to be scared, sweetie. You're just becoming more powerful. I'm afraid you're going to need private lessons soon."

"Private lessons? Why?" Jasper asked.

"Alice seems to be a lot more of a psychic than we'd originally thought. I think she should be trained by a fortune teller as well," Carlisle resolved.

Edward stiffened a little but said nothing. I looked at him with a question mark practically stamped on my face, but his gaze was locked on his father.

"She's more of a psychic than you assumed? What does that mean?" Rose asked.

Carlisle didn't answer her right away. When he did, he said, "There is a difference between willingly seeing the future and having random visions of the future," in a low voice. "We called Alice a psychic before, although that wasn't actually the correct term. To be able to look into the future at your own will is associated with fortune telling. Those futures can be changed. A psychic, on the other hand, gets visions of a future that can't always be changed. It seems like Alice is both."

"You mean I'm special?" Alice squealed, suddenly excited. Her face turned from blue to yellow in a flash. Now the colors weren't bright anymore since they'd faded throughout the day.

Carlisle eyed her for a moment before he threw a look in Emmett's direction and shook his head a little. Apparently Emmett was very notorious for his pranks. I didn't want to know what he'd done to them the years before. Just thinking about it made me shudder.

We spent the rest of the evening hounding Carlisle with millions of questions regarding developments of our gifts. Apparently there was the possibility of our gifts either increasing or us developing a second one, which is what happened in both Dylan and Edward's case.

It was kind of odd how alike the two of them were, even though they weren't related by blood. When I mentioned it, I got my answer though.

"Dylan's mother was my sister," Esme said quietly. "She died giving birth to him and we adopted him when he was eight. He just became so attached to us over the years that he now refers to us as his parents rather than his aunt and uncle," Esme smiled fondly at her son.

Dylan didn't look like he card too much about the topic at hand. As a matter of fact, none of them even looked uncomfortable talking about it.

"And what happened to his father?" Bella and I asked at the same time.

This time, we got a reaction. Dylan's eyes darkened dangerously and Esme and Carlisle both looked a little worried. Alice and Edward, on the other hand, seemed to be just as engrossed as the rest of us who weren't a part of this family. Only now did the thought that, to Alice and Edward, Dylan was like their own brother, cross my mind. I didn't think they ever thought much about the fact that Dylan was adopted.

I smiled a little at the thought. The Cullens were truly one extraordinary family.

"You should ask Dylan if he wants to talk about it," Esme advised. Everyone's curious eyes turned to him.

Dylan froze and I guessed that no on other than Carlisle and Esme really knew what happened. "He kind of just abandoned me," Dylan said with not even a hint of emotion leaking from his voice. "One night, he just decided that he was fed up with me and left me. In the middle of no where, or at least that's what it felt like to me. A few days later, the police picked me up and tracked down Esme and Carlisle." He said it so nonchalantly that it was truly heartbreaking. If we weren't in the midst of an awkward relationship, and he didn't smell like those pheromones, I might have gone to hug him.

Instead, Alice started sniffling. "Oh Dylan, I'm so sorry!" she cried and threw herself in his arms, completely catching him off guard.

Bella went over as well with tears in her eyes as she squeezed him tightly. The most shocking was Rosalie. She had a few tears rolling down her face and went over to pat his head. He still had whiskers on his face, so I guessed it was kind of a fitting gesture.

The rest of us merely watched them with funny expressions.

Dylan looked over at me for a brief second, but his face gave nothing away. He then concentrated back on his cuddling session with the girls.

"Jealous, Cullen?" I asked Edward casually.

"Not in the slightest. Why? Are you?" he retorted with a sly smile on his face.

I huffed. "Why would I want to hug him?"

"Right, you prefer ripping his clothes off," Edward laughed and Jasper quickly joined in.

Emmett looked at us in confusion. "What did I miss?" he asked.

"After you left this morning, Chris jumped Dylan and started undressing him and purred while doing so," Jasper informed him.

I dropped my head immediately, but not without catching Esme and Carlisle's curious glances. I started to wonder when my life started becoming so horrible and even worse, when I'd started blushing so much in my life.

"Seriously girls, I'm fine," I heard Dylan complain. I looked up to see Alice, Rose, and Bella still patting Dylan as if he were a pet.

"I think the pheromones do have an effect on humans," Edward mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Emmett asked.

"They're treating Dylan like he's actually a cat," Edward said, looking at Emmett as if he were missing something obvious.

"You mean the pheromones are still on me?" Dylan asked, not sounding very thrilled.

"Of course they are. You wore your uniform most of the day, so it naturally rubbed off of it and onto your skin."

Dylan let out a frustrated groan and got up to stomp up the stairs. Of course he had to pass me on the way, which really wasn't the smartest move on his part.

I immediately jumped up and chased after him, only this time, my mind was semi-active. The smell wasn't quite as strong as before, either.

"Somebody grab her," I heard Edward shout.

I felt a pair of hands reach for me when I saw Dylan disappear right when I was about to jump on his back. Emmett had somehow managed to catch me and wanted to drag me back, but in that exact moment, I was pulled away by a familiar force.

Before I knew it, I was landing harshly on the floor of a bathroom. I cursed quietly to myself and got up. I opened the door and found myself in Dylan's room.

Maybe I didn't need him to reach me after all. I was doing a pretty decent job on my own.

I saw Dylan in front of his closet, rummaging through his clothes, before he threw a few on the couch.

I was slowly creeping toward the door, thinking of a fast escape. Now that I couldn't smell him anymore, there was no need for me to be in his range. Otherwise I'd probably sniff him to death. Damn Emmett and his stupid pranks. I mean honestly, how does someone come up with _cat pheromones?_

My little _Mission: Impossible_ exit was interrupted, however, when Dylan decided to take off his shirt. Come on! How was I supposed to get out of his room when he was getting naked right in front of me? Life just wasn't fair. _Or maybe life's being very, very generous to you right now, Chris..._

And when I say naked, I really mean naked. When he started taking off his pants, I came to the conclusion that he was planning to shower those pheromones off of him. Fine with me, because honestly, I didn't need anymore embarrassing situations. The only thing was that I would be in my next embarrassing situation in a few moments if I didn't get out of his room. Now.

Why had my life gotten so sucky ever since we came to this school? Bella's had worked out quite well for her. She was popular, pretty, and had a boyfriend that every girl envied her for. Maybe even me, though that had less to do with the boyfriend himself compared to the fact that she actually got the guy she really wanted. And then here I was. I was popular, but that was because of the people I associated with. I was good-looking enough to not break any mirrors. And I had an ex-boyfriend who dumped me because I had some weird crush on a college guy who was currently in a relationship, although he wanted me to be his girlfriend, but I didn't want to because I had a boyfriend at the time.

Yeah, my life sucks.

_But then again, maybe not,_ I thought as I realized Dylan's hands were already at the hem of his boxers...

And that's when I decided to sneeze.

Well, I didn't really _decide_ anything, it just happened.

So when Dylan spun around, I was back at the conclusion that my life sucked.

Badly.

"What the..." he started, but then let his voice trail off.

"Um...hey?"

Yes, that was by far the smartest thing I'd ever said. I started to wonder why not even one person from downstairs came up to rescue me. By now, I had no doubt that Bella would know where I was. I reached through the bond to see what she was doing. I felt that I'd startled her and she quickly gestured for the others to be quiet.

What the hell were they doing?

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Dylan asked, pulling me back to the current situation.

"Um...enjoying the view?" I immediately wanted to smack myself.

Dylan watched me with raised eyebrows. Seriously, this conversation wasn't going anywhere when he was standing there half-naked.

"I should go," I mumbled slowly and quickly went for the door. When I opened it, though, it immediately slammed shut again. I looked up to see that Dylan had pushed it closed. I turned around, looking at him with a questioning expression.

Bad move.

As soon as the all-too-familiar scent hit me, I held my breath. Dylan smirked down at me. We stood like this for a few moments until I had no choice but to breathe again. I concentrated very hard on not moving from the spot, which was by far the hardest thing I had ever done. His smirk became even more pronounced.

"Next time you drench my clothes, you should probably ask Emmett what it is first," he told me. And with that, he simply opened the door and pushed me out of his room.

Now that was probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. I was kind of dumbfounded as I made my way down the stairs to join the others. I eyed them all through narrowed eyes when I saw that they were all sitting there, giggling and chuckling. Esme tried to put on a disapproving expression, but failed miserably, while Carlisle looked kind of thoughtful.

I was about to ask them what they found so funny when I heard Bella's thoughts loud and clear. She had been giving them a play-by-play. Wasn't there anyone in this world I could trust?

Bella only shook her head. "I'm sorry, but the two of you are so much like a bad TV show," she informed me.

I huffed and stomped away.

The next few days went by just as I'd expected them to. Dylan avoided the group and we barely got to see him, which resulted in me being the one who had to stand all the teasing on my own. Even my sister, the traitor, joined in.

The weekend came and we all had to be present for Alice and Emmett's birthday party. I didn't know how many people Alice had invited, but it was definitely a lot. I thought I even saw a few college kids hanging around the party, which was probably because of Dylan. And of course everywhere there were college kids, was alcohol. Alice freaked out and had them thrown out, along with Dylan. She had actually gotten two of the school's security guards to monitor her party, and she was really touchy on the whole alcohol subject. The reason for that was actually quite simple. Alice didn't have anything against it, but Carlisle had told her that if there was any alcohol involved, Alice wouldn't be allowed to celebrate another party at the house.

Bella and Edward were, of course, supporting the whole thing, while Emmett and Rose seemed to be a little disappointed. So young and already so spoiled. I really didn't care. I was in a bad mood and let it out on everyone who dared to talk to me. Eventually, half of the party guests were scared of me and left me alone, making sure to inform others to stay away from me.

At the end of the weekend, after the party, I found a note on the floor in my room. I frowned a little, but opened it anyway.

_Saturday, 12:00 at my parents' house._

_Dylan_

A love letter was something different.

And so Saturday came and I found myself making my way to the Cullen home. Bella accompanied me for a little while, but only because she had a meeting with the Hydros.

"Good luck, Chris. And try not to kill anyone," she said as we parted ways.

I smiled tightly at her. I couldn't promise her anything.

I stopped short when I was in front of the Cullen's house. I really hoped Carlisle and Esme were at home because I knew for sure that I would not be able to deal with being alone in a house with Dylan. Not after last week. I cringed just thinking about it. I was about to ring the bell when someone called my name. I turned around.

Heidi was jogging toward me, waving like crazy. "Hey Chris," she called happily.

I just stared back at her, trying to think of when she became so gleeful. "Hey Heidi," I replied slowly after a few moments.

"Aren't you totally excited for your first lesson with Dylan today?" she asked me, smiling brightly. Something about her was weird, but I couldn't exactly put my finger on it.

"Um...sure, yeah...totally excited," I answered, sounding about as cheerful as an emo.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you are. You know, I think it's very sweet of him to teach you how to use the giftstone. Other guys would just ignore the girl as soon as they lost interest, but he's nice enough to try to keep up a friendsh—"

"Wait, wait. What?" I asked in confusion. What was she talking about?

Heidi looked at my surprised expression and then sighed an oddly sympathetic sounding sigh. "I knew it might be like that, but Dylan just didn't believe me. He said you knew that you were just friends, but it's so obvious that you like him." I continued to stare at her like an idiot. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you need to realize that Dylan doesn't care for you as much as he did before. I'm his girlfriend now," Heidi told me and a strange smile of satisfaction spread across her face.

I just shook my head at that. "When did he tell you that?" I asked her with an amused smile.

"He told me last week." Now the smile on her face vanished.

"I'm sure it was very sincere since you're not just one of his many girlfriends."

"I'm not just one of his girlfriends. I am the one that he will eventually stick with," she said, sounding so convinced that I almost laughed.

"That's great. I'm sure he already made a giftstone for you," I responded sarcastically.

If there had been any friendliness left in her features, it was gone now. "He only gave you a stone because at that point, he wasn't as mature as he is now. He didn't think about his actions and I forgave him for that. I don't need a stone to have his feelings for me confirmed. I know that he loves me, and you should just give any hope you have up now because you are _nothing_ to him," she hissed. Now I realized why I thought something was wrong with her earlier.

She was jealous.

"I'm sure he's matured a lot over the last four months," I replied and finally rang the doorbell.

A second later, Dylan opened the door. I didn't bother greeting him and just stalked in, mainly because I knew what was going to come next. All of us had hung out with Heidi and Dylan often enough to know how they greet each other.

"I missed you," she attempted to purr, but being the dog she was, she failed.

Dylan murmured something back to her that I couldn't make out, but I heard he low, deep rumbling of his voice.

I ignored the urge to puke all over Esme's beautiful carpet and instead went upstairs.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" I heard Dylan call after me.

I rolled my eyes to myself. "To Neverland, isn't it obvious?" I walked straight into his room and went to sit on his sofa.

Dylan and Heidi entered not too long after me.

"I don't recall saying I was going to teach you in my room," Dylan complained.

I thought about the last time I was in his room. It probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had, but there was no way that I would admit that.

"Do you want to start the lesson any time soon?" I asked, doing my best to sound bored and unaffected by the fact that Heidi was constantly running her hands up and down his body. It was just so irritating, but then again, I found everything about her irritating.

Dylan sighed and looked back and forth between the two of us before he moved to the closet wall and pulled out his wand. He started the lesson then. "The most important thing about teleportation is concentration. You need to have your mind fixed on landing in an empty space on the floor. It works best when you know where you want to land because then you can really decide where you want to reappear, but if you have never seen the place, you should at least imagine landing on the floor safely with nothing in your way. Believe me, you don't wanna get stuck in a wall."

Heidi let out a laugh that sounded so fake that I had to roll my eyes. That wasn't even the slightest bit funny. Even Dylan quickly threw her an annoyed glance.

"Another thing that you really have to keep in mind is not to slack while teleporting. It's only a few milliseconds, but that's enough time to make a mistake," he said. "Step one is to concentrate on leaving the place you're currently at. You just need to forget about the place you are. Step two is to concentrate on your own body; you can't have the force pull you away. When you do that, you automatically get to step three, which is concentrating on your goal. Now you've already beamed due to emotional outbursts, which means that you let the force just grab you. You need to push against it—"

I was momentarily distracted by Heidi. It was amazing to watch how she was desperately trying to show me that she and Dylan were an item. She nodded at every word he said as if he were teaching her instead of me, and she had that annoying smile constantly plastered on her face. Dylan didn't see that, though, because he was busy writing the steps on the wall with his wand as he listed them. But every time he turned to see if I was still listening, she sat up straighter and smiled even wider. And when he was pacing back and forth while talking, she would let her hand touch him as soon as he was close to her. It was sickening really.

Dylan was saying something about astral planes when I noticed that Heidi seemed to be keen on squeezing his butt. At least she tried to grab it anytime he was in reach, and she looked like she was entranced or something. I could only imagine her with a wagging tail.

I grinned at the thought.

Heidi turned her attention to me for a short second and looked at me arrogantly as if to remind me of our talk from earlier. I considered laughing at her for believing the nonsense Dylan had apparently told her just last week, probably the same day I attacked him. Of course it would cross his mind just then that I meant absolutely nothing to him and she was number one in his life. That seemed a little...well, untrue. I was pretty sure I'd get a reaction that showed Dylan's interest in me.

My mind had already started coming up with evil ways to destroy Heidi's hopes by letting her see that Dylan lied to her. When I eventually came up with a plan, I looked at Heidi, whose attention was back on a certain part of Dylan's anatomy, and giggled.

"Chris, did you even listen to anything I said?" Dylan asked exasperatedly.

"No, I'm sorry, I was distracted by the dog sniffing your butt," I replied sweetly and watched Heidi's outraged expression with a smile on my face.

"Chris, can't you just be nice for once?"

I got up from the couch and went over to Dylan's king-sized bed. I threw myself on it and stretched my body in a very cat-like manner.

"Sorry, I can't do that. I'm just a naughty girl," I purred with a wink.

Dylan stared at me wide-eyed and I was pretty sure he was close to drooling.

I looked at Heidi with a triumphant expression. If she ever walked up to me again to tell me that I was meaningless to Dylan, I would have to remind her of this moment.

"You stupid little—" Heidi started shrieking, but I stopped her.

"Do you really want to insult me? I don't react too well to that, and I'm sure you don't want me to get angry," I said as an evil smile spread across my face before I went back to lolling on Dylan's bed. It was surprisingly comfortable and I let out a contented sigh.

"Dylan! Stop staring at her and do something!" Heidi complained.

"Heidi, we should talk," he said slowly and before I could even look up, the two of them had already vanished from the room.

I smiled smugly to myself, oddly content at my achievement. I sunk back into Dylan's pillows and waited patiently.

I waited...

And waited...

And waited...

And eventually I fell asleep.

I was awoken roughly when something heavy dropped on the mattress, causing my body to fly up a little. I looked around, a little disoriented, and saw Dylan lying next to me, cursing. I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

He immediately stopped his profanities and looked at me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I wasn't concentrating on the right thing," he murmured. His words make no sense to me, so I ignored them.

"What took you so long?" I looked at my watch and saw that it was already passed three.

Dylan sighed. "I only wanted to ban her from our lessons because she was so distracting, but she did not take that too well."

"You argued, huh?"

"You could say that." I noticed then that something about his voice was different. Was it really that bad? If it was, was it my fault?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mess things up between you two," I mumbled.

**Dylan POV**

I sighed in frustration when Heidi angrily stomped away.

I couldn't say that I regretted breaking up with her, even if that hadn't been my intention. I'd merely asked her to let me teach Chris without her presence, but she didn't take it too well. I'd already known that she viewed Chris as a threat, but I didn't know that it was that bad until she began a one hour speech on how she was so much better than Chris and every other girl for that matter. I didn't listen to her because speeches like that just didn't interest me. When she was finally done talking, she'd managed to irritate me so much that I broke it off without a second thought.

Of course that didn't sit well with her either. She then started to argue and tried persuading me to start all over again. She even promised to become best friends with Chris.

But the truth was, I was tired. Tired of girls who clung to me as if their life depended on it, and tired of going from one girl to the next. They were all the same. Each one of them was like everlasting glue, sticking to me, and so possessive that I felt like a trophy rather than a human being.

That was probably the reason why I'd taken such a great interest in Chris. She wasn't like that. She didn't care about who I was. She treated me exactly like she treated everybody else, if not even worse. She also didn't appreciate my constant presence.

It sounded kind of messed up, to be honest, but that's just how it was.

I imagined being with her would be like being on a vacation, away from all these crazy fan girls. Some of them actually only wanted to be with me just so they could get to Edward, which was even more messed up than my relationship with Chris.

Thinking of Chris reminded me that I'd left her in my room. On my bed.

I beamed back to my room, but the thought of Chris on my bed threw me off focus, causing me to land on my bed with a thud. The downside to beaming was that sometimes your desires are stronger than your actual thoughts and you end up somewhere you didn't want to land.

I heard a soft thump from my side. It seemed that Chris was still on my bed and I'd probably made her fly high in the air when I landed. I cursed the workings of the human mind until I heard a soft yawn coming from beside me. I looked at Chris and saw that she was no longer playing sexy kitten on my bed, but that she'd actually fallen asleep.

I must have been gone longer than I'd thought.

Seeing the way she rubbed her eyes made me smile a little. "Sorry," I apologized to her. "I didn't mean to wake you. I wasn't concentrating on the right thing." I turned to stare at the ceiling.

After years and years of practice, you'd think I'd be able to beam to the right spot at the right time whenever I wanted. But one mere thought of this girl managed to throw me off and make me land somewhere entirely different. I mean, in this case, it wasn't too bad, but still, I was lecturing her on the importance of concentration and yet, I couldn't get it right myself. I didn't want to end up becoming a hypocrite.

"What took you so long?" Chris asked softly. Usually there was some odd kind of power and confidence in her voice, but right now, she resembled her sister a lot more than I thought possible. Bella was probably influencing her sister more than everyone thought.

I sighed at having to answer her question. "I only wanted to ban her from our lessons because she was so distracting, but she did not take that too well."

"You argued, huh?" And there was a hint of the usual Chris attitude.

"You could say that." I didn't know if I should tell her about the break up. Was it really something I should just bring up like that?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mess things up between you two," Chris mumbled, still sounding a little sleepy. She sounded sincere, not teasing and sarcastic like she usually did. I wondered if she was always like this after she woke up.

"I don't think you messed anything up," I told her.

Chris looked at me, but she didn't say anything. For a few moments, we both just laid there, looking at each other. But then she flinched.

I scanned the room quickly to see if there was anything that could have startled her, but there was nothing. I looked back at her. She was squeezing her eyes shut with her lips pressed tightly together.

"Stop, dammit," she hissed out through clenched teeth and looked like she was struggling against something. Her whole body was tense and I didn't know what was wrong with her.

"Chris, are you okay?" I asked her. I didn't get an answer. She wasn't sick, was she? I put my hand on her forehead. She was very warm. So maybe she _was_ sick. But why so suddenly?

Then she relaxed without warning and reached for my hand. She put it on her cheek and smiled gently.

That was very unlike Chris.

"Chris, are you okay?" I repeated urgently. "Talk to me, Chris," I pressed when I got no answer.

Instead, she decided to pull my head closer to hers.

I knew oh too well where this would lead and I wasn't sure if this had anything to do with her fever. Before I knew it, she was kissing me. But something was different. By now, I could tell how she kissed and that something was wrong. I tried to beam out of her arms, but the thing is, I couldn't think of a place I'd rather be now and I really didn't want to land on the astral plane.

So I just let her kiss me. Hell, I kissed her back. In a far corner of my mind, I still knew that something was wrong, but at the same time, I also knew that there was nothing more I wanted right now. The kiss deepened, and while I was enjoying it just like any other normal male, I was also worried where this would lead. Sure, I'd kissed Chris before, that was nothing new, but this time, I was practically lying on top of her.

And then I heard a sound that made me think my heart was going to stop.

Chris moaned. But she didn't _just_ moan. She moaned a name.

And it wasn't mine.

"Edward," was what she said and I froze.

Edward? Why in the world is she thinking of Edward?

I pulled back and looked at her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips still puckered, but she hadn't noticed that I'd pulled away. I detangled myself from her and watched as she reached out for me, but only managed to grasp thin air.

Was I missing something?

So, I wasn't always with my siblings anymore, but Edward wouldn't have gone behind Bella's back, with Chris no less, would he?

Now that I looked at Chris and saw she was still reaching out, I came to realize that she wasn't conscious. Right. She had a fever. It still didn't explain the Edward thing, though.

And then without warning, Chris sat up and started screaming. Out of instinct, I clamped my hand down on her mouth. That's how Edward and I had always gotten Alice to shut up when she randomly started screaming. Chris looked at me with wide eyes and then she bit me. I immediately withdrew my hand and hissed. She looked at me with a frown and moved from the bed.

She looked angry as she stomped to the door. I reacted fast and beamed to block her way.

"Would you mind telling me what just happened?" I asked her breathlessly.

"Your stupid brother happened," she hissed back.

"Ah, yes, my brother. Why exactly were you moaning his name while kissing me?" I was pretty sure jealously was evident in my voice.

Chris looked at me in surprise. Her eyes widened in shock and then she slowly backtracked. I watched her as she went to sit on the couch. "I kissed you?" she asked.

I nodded.

She buried her face in her hands and started cursing Edward, and apparently Bella, to the deepest, fiery pits of Hell. That made no sense to me, so I just stood there and waited for her to finish her rant. When she finally did, she looked up at me.

I'm so sorry. I don't know why, but if there is a God, he highly enjoys watching me jump you at every given moment," she blabbered. "It wasn't me who kissed you, it was Bella," she finally answered. If there was a prize for being the most confused person in the world, I would have won it right then. Chris saw my expression and elaborated. "Bella and Edward are currently enjoying each other's presence a little too much. It starts out normal, like studying, and the next thing you know, they're making out like...like...like teenagers," she huffed and started pacing around.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her comparison.

"It's not funny," she hissed. "This happens every time Bella gets too excited. It's really annoying. Her feelings for Edward are too strong. She pulls me into her mind with it, letting me experience the whole thing first hand."

"So Bella pulls you into her mind when she's kissing Edward?" I asked, trying to process everything.

"Pretty much, yeah. I feel everything. It's horrible and gross. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do if they decide to have sex one day, and then—" she stopped her train of thought with a shudder.

"So you didn't even know you were kissing me?"

She looked at me and her face turned thoughtful. "You pulled away at some point, didn't you?" she asked.

I nodded.

"That's why the tingling lessened," she murmured and I wasn't sure if it was even meant for my ears. "I don't think I really noticed, though of course there is always the whole subconscious thing, but as far as I know..." she let her voice trail off.

I wasn't sure what to make of this information. On one hand, I was relieved that she hadn't been fantasizing about Edward. On the other hand, I was...I guess you could say disappointed that she hadn't willingly kissed me. And then there was the third hand that I didn't have, on which it was also good that it wasn't her kissing me because that proved to me that there really had been something different about her kiss.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

Chris caught the movement and shifted from one foot to the other. Whatever that meant. "So, you want to go or continue our very messed up lesson?" Chris asked, trying to sound casual.

"Depends if you can sit through it without falling asleep or attacking me," I replied.

"If you're doing a good job with distracting me, I should be safe from Edward and Bella."

"Well then I guess we should continue."

She nodded and I started where I'd left off earlier.

I had to explain the whole matter of getting stuck on the astral plane to her. I remembered when Mr. Decour was lecturing me about it. I'd been bored to death. It just sounded so complicated and scientific. The astral plane is something like a parallel world to our universe, but at the same time, it isn't. It's part of this earth, but not part of our world, and it's in between time and space. Back in the day, I'd gotten a headache when I heard that.

The astral plane was all around us, but cut off from our world. But it was also connected to it. If I were to beam to the exact same place where my room is, only on the astral plane, I could write a message at the place where my wall should be in our world and it would appear for the person who was in my room at the time to read. It was highly complicated, because even though it was the same place, it didn't look the same. It was very close to the world of the dead and from what I knew, it just so happened that there actually were some souls who'd gotten lost on their journey and landed in the astral plane.

Chris didn't look too confused by the whole thing, so I continued with my lesson.

There was a simple reason why I'd brought up the astral plane. Since it was in between time and space, it was the only place that I always entered each time I beamed from one place to another. The pulling force came from there and I'd managed to get stuck there once for about three days.

Theoretically, I could purposely go to the astral plane, simply by beaming with no goal or letting the force pull me along. But since I was too trained to just allow that to happen, I didn't think that it would actually work very well. For Chris, it was a little different though. All she had to do was lapse in her concentration and she might end up there, and since the giftstone wasn't powerful enough to beam her all around the place, I wasn't sure if she would be able to make it back on her own. I made sure that Chris understood the importance of concentration, and at the end of the day when I was done with my lecture, she had indeed been so concentrated that she needed a while to get back to reality.

I saw her off and watched after her as she walked away back to the dorms.

I wondered if it was really wise to let her go with Alice to spy on these weirdo psychos.

The remaining weeks of the month passed in a blur. I still hadn't told the others about my break up with Heidi, which was mostly because I barely spent any time with them. Between school and classy meetings, I still had the training sessions with Chris.

We used every free minute for that, and when we got to the practical part, we started working outside due to the nice weather.

"I don't get what you're trying to tell me," Chris whined when I tried to show her how to land precisely.

I groaned and showed her again. "Look at that tree over there. You want to land right in front of it, so you have to imagine yourself there as soon as you're in the force. First, think of yourself away from where you are now, and then imagine yourself where you want to be," I told her for the third time. It was also the third time I'd showed her. I quickly beamed to the spot in front of the tree that Chris should be concentrating on and then back to her side.

"But how am I supposed to think myself away?" she complained.

"Haven't you ever thought of wanting to be anywhere but the place you're at?"

"Are you telling me you don't want to be here with me?" she asked me with wide eyes.

I threw her a look and she immediately turned serious, although I could still see a little grin on her face.

"Okay, give me your hand," I instructed. She did as I asked without hesitation. "You do exactly what I told you, and I will come along in case something goes wrong. I'll pull you along until it's safe for me to let go, but you have to do the landing on your own."

Chris scrunched up her nose, but nodded anyway. Until now, she had never actively beamed. The last few lessons I had taken her along to get her used to the force and let her dominate it.

"On the count of three. One...two...three," and with that, I put my focused my concentration on landing in front of that tree. When we were halfway there, I let go of Chris' hand and stood exactly where I wanted to.

Chris appeared a moment later, but not where she was supposed to. She crashed into the tree. As soon as she collided with it, she started to fall, but I caught her before any serious damage could be inflicted.

"That hurt," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.

I looked at her. "I believe th—you're bleeding."

She looked at her hand, surprised to find blood there. She sighed. "Whatever you do, don't bring me to the hospital," she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I responded with a grin, and a second later, we stood beside my mother in the kitchen.

She jumped. "Jesus, don't startle me like that," she complained, holding her hand to her heart and using the other to smack me lightly.

"I'm sorry, but Chris injured herself," I told her and set Chris down on her feet.

Esme instantly saw the damage and led Chris to the counter to sit on one of the stools. Then she quickly hurried away to grab her first aid kit.

"You'll be back to normal in no time," I flashed Chris a smile.

She rolled her eyes.

Esme rushed back in and started to mend Chris, all while asking her how in the world she'd managed to collide with a tree.

Five minutes later, there wasn't even a single scratch left on Chris' forehead, and Esme shooed us out of her kitchen.

After that, the rest of our lessons went without injuries. When Chris actually managed to get from one spot to another, we had to lessen our training time because all of the work we were putting into training not only weakened the stone, but also Chris. She even fell asleep during our training twice. I had to bring her into her room then and make sure that Bella took care of her.

Bella and Edward were sort of the outcasts of the group right now. The two of them were currently in their "honeymoon phase" as Alice called it. They cut themselves off from the group and went on date after date — they actually flew around campus on a broom — and spent endless time in either one of their rooms. What they were doing in their rooms was no secret, either, because Chris tended to get pulled away every now and then, sometimes even in the middle of a conversation. Hearing her say exactly the same words Bella was telling Edward was highly amusing to Emmett and Jasper, while Rose and Alice tried to act as if they found their boyfriend's amusement childish.

One week before she had her big beaming debut, I taught Chris how to teleport with a passenger. We needed Alice to participate in that, which meant that our lessons were no longer private since the whole group decided to tag along. Chris didn't seem to mind that, as a matter of fact, she seemed to be a lot more carefree ever since...well, ever since we started these lessons. I guessed that the improving weather was effecting her.

Our lessons with Alice didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Chris was already pretty decent at beaming on her own, but when she tagged Alice along, she seemed to make the same mistakes she did in the beginning.

"Okay, you know what? I think I have to take you halfway next week, but you'll have to manage the rest and beaming out, so you better work on your concentration," I told her.

Alice didn't find any of this very thrilling because she didn't want to end up in a pile of dirt. I told her that was _highly_ unlikely, but decided to leave out the part about there being a possibility of landing, and getting stuck, on the astral plane.

On the thirtieth, the whole group seemed to be strangely excited as we sat together, listening to Jasper's plan, that evening.

"Okay, tonight is the night," he started.

"Tonight?" Emmett exclaimed. "I thought it was the thirty-first?"

"Yes, tonight. Or tomorrow morning — however you want to see it. At one thirty sharp, right, Alice?" Jasper asked and glanced at his girlfriend.

She nodded.

"Why can you see that now?" Rose asked curiously.

"She slipped up once, enabling me to see the date, and now that we're all set on doing this, I can see our future, which is now entangled with hers because of this," Alice explained briefly.

We all gave understanding nods before turning back to Jasper, who was standing in front of us.

"Alright, soldiers," he started and I'm sure we all rolled our eyes at him. "Dylan will get the twins and Edward out, and Emmett will take the rest. We meet behind the elementary school." Every nodded. "That means that Dylan, you should probably be with them in the first place."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emmett asked. He was really slow today.

"That means we're having a sleepover without you," Chris answered and stuck her tongue out at him.

"How are we supposed to get to the elementary school? And why there?" Bella asked, ignoring Chris and Emmett's little banter.

"Excellent questions," Jasper approved. I started to get the feeling that he'd been reading, and watching, way too much about war. He was acting like one of those commanders or whatever they were called. He quickly pulled out a layout of the school's compound. "See, here is the elementary school," Jasper said and pointed to a corner of the campus. The school was right at the edge of the forest. "If we go through the woods here—" he drew a line where he wanted us to walk through, "—we should land right behind the conference building."

"Are you sure we should all be lingering around there?" Edward asked.

Jasper thought about it for a moment. "You're right," he said thoughtfully. It seemed like he was quickly calculating something. "Edward and Emmett be waiting behind the building with me. If something goes wrong, we'll be there," he then said.

"Why only the three of you?" Rose and I asked at the same time.

"Edward will keep tabs on the thoughts — hopefully they didn't pop any blockers. If they did, then I'll keep tabs on the emotional climate, and if something goes wrong, Emmett will go in and get the girls out of the building immediately, and Edward will be able to get them away from there fast."

"Shouldn't I be with you, then?" I asked.

"No. Nobody knows if Chris is going to land precisely. You said the furthest she's been off was 330 feet, so the others will be rounding the building in exactly that range, and you will go with Rose and Bella in case you have to get them out."

"So we're going to be walking around the woods?" Rose inquired in disbelief.

"Not entirely," Jasper answered. "The junction that leads into the street will be part of your little walk, but you have to be very careful to make sure no one sees you there."

"And what if I'm not 330 feet off?" Chris asked in annoyance.

"Depending on which group you land closest to, you will join them. And before you even ask, it will be quite easy to tell which you are closer to. If it's close to the building, come to us, if it's far, inform Bella and join them."

"How are we supposed to communicate with one another?" Emmett queried.

"That's simple. Bella, Chris, and Edward. There will be _no_ mind shielding of any sort," he looked strictly at Chris. "If Edward loses contact even once, I will storm in there with no regard for losses." There was a strange vibe of bloodlust coming from Jasper and I figured it had to do with Alice being in the immediate zone of danger. I understood why he was so protective better than I thought I would.

"Okay, that's all fine and dandy, but what if something goes wrong? What if me and Alice are discovered?" Chris asked. Not the train of thought I preferred.

"Edward will know and we'll go in there as fast as we can," Jasper replied calmly, though he'd already said it before.

"Yes, I heard that earlier, but you don't honestly think it'll just work like that, do you?"

"Well, Bella would be informed as well, and Dylan would join. Since he can control the situation to an extent, I think we'll be fine. Edward and Dylan are our secret weapons in this case. All of that mixed with me trying to control the emotional climate as well as I can. I don't think there's much that _can_ go wrong."

I thought about it. I hadn't found a hole in his plan. Not yet, that is.

"But you're not that powerful and we don't know how many of them there are," Alice threw in. "So what if you can't make it?"

"Simple. As soon as something goes off track, Bella and Rose will go get help. Mr. Decour's house is the closest, but it'd be even better if you drew the attention of the security guards." He quickly showed them where Mr. Decour lived. "Anymore questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Okay. The mission starts at one thirty. We'll meet at the school at one forty-five at the latest. If the other group is not there by then, go back," he looked at us with a strict expression. "We will separate in the woods at two o'clock. Chris, Alice, Emmett, Edward, Dylan, and I will reach the building about five minutes later. Dylan, Chris, and Alice will take off and Dylan will go join the girls who stayed exactly where we separated." He took a deep breath before continuing, "Chris and Alice will not spend more than ten minutes in there, no matter how interesting it gets. If no one is there, you should let us know and we'll think about giving you more time, but seriously, no more than ten minutes. After those ten minutes are up, you beam out of the room and let Edward and Bella know that you are no longer in there. You'll probably need about five minutes to join either one of the groups. The two groups will make their way back as soon as Chris and Alice are safely with either one of them, and we will meet back at the elementary school again, in the exactly spot we dispersed. After that, we'll return the same way we came, using two different routes as not to draw any attention to our large group. There are no more questions, am I correct?" We all nodded hastily and Jasper smiled in satisfaction before showing us the two routes we were to take on the map.

As the evening drew closer, everyone seemed to become nervous rather than excited. I went through the basics of teleportation with Chris again, without letting her use it, because I knew she needed the stone to be at it's best, full with energy.

Alice and Jasper sat together, going over the plan. Alice tried to see if there were and flaws in it, and apparently, there weren't, which didn't help reassure Jasper even in the slightest because he knew that the future could change at any moment.

Bella and Edward were working on her shield because she was suddenly having a little difficulty keeping her mind open. From what I gathered, it was because she'd gotten very good at closing off her mind, while Chris was the opposite.

Rose and Emmett were sitting together in a corner, complaining about feeling left out and underestimated. I shook my head at them.

When curfew time rolled around, Rose, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper all left, telling us to get some sleep. The funny thing about our supervisors was that they didn't care if there was anyone in the wrong house after curfew, they only cared if we tried to get out of the house after curfew. Sometimes I thought our principal had hired a bunch of idiots.

"Bella and I sleep in my bed, you boys can have her bed," Chris exclaimed happily and started to tug Bella along. Bella didn't look too impressed with this plan. Chris noticed and groaned. "There is no way we are sleeping in your bed; it has Edward germs in it."

Bella's expression stayed the same. I looked at Edward to see him watching the twins with raised eyebrows and an amused smile.

Chris turned to glare at him. "This is all your fault," she snapped.

It took me a moment to grasp that Chris and Bella had apparently had a discussion in their heads. But it didn't take a genius to figure out that Bella wanted to share her bed with Edward.

Chris stormed out of the room, leaving the door open behind her. I only stared.

"Go," Bella urged with a roll of her eyes.

I scrambled to grab my bag, which contained sleeping clothes and black clothes for our mission later, and quickly followed Chris. She was muttering something under her breath and it didn't sound too happy.

"I'll sleep on the couch," I informed her as she rummaged through her closet.

She looked up at me in surprise and then she grinned. "I think you're too tall for that," she noted. She was right. Her couch was definitely not made for my size.

I shrugged. "There's always the floor."

She sighed. "That's complete nonsense. If anyone sleeps on the couch, it'll be me, but I'm not going to because the last time I did, my back hurt like crazy."

"So, what's your solution then?

"We'll stay up until it's time to go," she said enthusiastically. I looked at her with raised eyebrows and she rolled her eyes. "That was a joke. You're supposed to laugh."

Just to annoy her, I stared with a blank expression. Apparently that didn't work too well because a small grin made it's way onto my face and she shook her head slightly when she spotted it. Then she went back to digging through her closet and muttering curses and profanities under her breath.

"Seriously Chris, you don't have to do anything you don't wa—"

"Yes, I do. If Bella and Edward are sleeping in the same bed, then they're probably going to start up again. Maybe they'll think logically and see that they really need the sleep, but then again, maybe they won't and then I'll have to stand every minute of it," she hissed before turning to me with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I just don't like the situation. There has to be some way to turn this connection off, otherwise it might work the other way around sometime and I really don't want that."

I just nodded, knowing there was nothing else I could do.

She grinned at me. "I really have nothing against you sharing my bed with me tonight. It might piss off Heidi, though."

"No, it won't," I said dryly. "I broke up with her."

That caught her attention. She halted in her motions for a moment. "Oh," was all she said.

I rolled my eyes at her reaction.

She turned around with a thoughtful frown. "When did you break up with her?" she asked me, sounding as if she remembered something.

I looked away from her.

"So it was when you got into your argument a few weeks ago, huh? No wonder she's been glaring daggers at me ever since then. I thought it was because you fought..." she let her voice trail off as she continued to rummage through her closet. I started wondering what she was looking for, but when I saw the chaos she called a closet, I wasn't even surprised she was talking so long to find whatever it was she was searching for. "Why didn't you tell me, or anyone for that matter?" she asked abruptly, turning back to face me.

I shrugged. "It didn't come up."

She eyed me suspiciously and then went back and starting to literally throw things out of her closet now. The way she did it made me think that it was the regular way she looked for things in that mess, but she'd been trying not to because I was there. That was probably because she started throwing her underwear all over the place, as well as her other clothes. After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for and quickly gathered her things. She looked up at me and I hurriedly looked away, wanting to make it seem as if I hadn't been looking. Knowing Chris, she'd probably throw a fit.

"Should I be worried that you of all people are scared to look at girls underwear? Not that I care, but I thought you were player number one," she said casually. I wondered why she had been so easy going and casual with me the last few days.

I turned to look at her with an expression that showed I didn't appreciate being called a player.

She only giggled at that and held up a pair of white lace panties. "Remember these?" she asked, still giggling.

My eyes widened. Who was this girl and what had she done with Chris? I nodded to answer her question anyway. I remembered her first day. It seemed like it had been years rather than months since then.

Looking at us now, I realized that we'd both changed so much over time, though Chris' changes were kind of minor. The fact that she was so easy going these days could just be a phase. But I was definitely not the same as before. Come to think of it, I thought a lot had changed in our group. Nobody actually seemed to have noticed the changes that the twins brought because it had just felt so normal.

Before the twins' arrival, I'd barely spent any time with Alice, Edward, Rose, Jasper, or Emmett. Well, I did hang out with Edward every now and then, but I was mostly around my friends that were the same age as I. Since the twins arrived, I'd kind of lost touch with them. I only hung out with Sam and Jared at school. Also, Edward spent a lot more time with his friend, Mason, who had always set him up with one girl after another, which is actually the reason for Edward's heartbreaker reputation. As for Rose, Jasper, Alice, and Emmett, I knew that they'd been a lot closer to each other than the rest of us, but they went off a lot more often as couples.

And then the twins arrived.

_I was at the basketball court with Sam and Jared, sitting on one of the benches after the game. Jared was currently telling us all about some girl that he'd taken out the day before. Just as we were in the middle of our guy talk, that annoying bundle of energy that happens to be my sister suddenly appeared with her shadow right behind her._

_Jasper sometimes seemed more like Alice's shadow to me than her boyfriend, which was fine with me. A shadow wouldn't start any naughty things with my baby sister._

_As much as I loved the little pixie, I really didn't want her around in that moment, though. No guy ever wants his little sister around when he's hanging out with the guys._

_"Alice, what do you want?" I asked her with a somewhat annoyed sigh before she could even open her mouth._

_"You're coming with us," she commanded._

_I looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. She never just came around and demanded my presence. She only did that for special occasions._

_"Alice, it's not Halloween yet," I informed her and nudged Jared to stop him from laughing, which I knew he was about to do._

_"I know that, thank you very much, you idiot. I just said you're coming with us."_

_"Hey Al, why don't you and your boyfriend go find Edward and ask him if he'll play with you?" Sam asked her, talking to her as if she were a little kid._

_I snickered a little at that. Alice didn't look too happy though._

_"We'll do that in a moment, but first, we'll take Dylan with us," she insisted._

_"And why would you do that?" I asked._

_Alice sighed and it looked like she'd given up. But that's just what it _seemed _like. She looked up at me and smiled that sweet smile of hers, which I knew wasn't sincere._

_"I just had a vision of us sitting by the fountain and you were with us, so you better come."_

_"You do know that the future you see can change, right?"_

_"Of course. Well, I thought you wanted to come because I saw the new girls coming up to talk to us wearing nothing more than short shorts and sport tops. You know, the ones that look more like sports bras," she said and I saw a dangerous twinkle in her eyes. She knew she had me._

_Damn that pixie and that annoying, hot new girl._

_Only the possibility of seeing some naked skin made me come along. It had nothing to do with the girl herself._

_Alice sensed my surrender and grabbed my arm to drag me away._

_A few minutes later, we were standing at Rosalie's door, Alice's little fist poised to knock. Judging by the giggling and grumbling that came from inside, I knew that Emmett was probably in there as well. Alice knocked harshly, cutting off Rosalie's giggling._

_Blondie opened the door, her hair looking seriously ruffled._

_I bit back a grin._

_"TV time with Emmett is over," Alice announced and pushed the door open a little further to reveal Emmett, who was laying on the couch and in fact watching TV. From the looks of it, Rosalie had just been laying there with him._

_"But I wanted to see that," Emmett whined, pouting._

_"Not today. We're going to see the new girls and change our lives forever," Alice declared._

_Rose rolled her eyes. Apparently she was used to hearing these kinds of things from Alice. "You said that last year when you wanted to go to the football game, too," Rose noted._

_"Yes, and I was right because that day you met Royce, who introduced you to Emmett a few days later when you bumped into them."_

_Rose didn't seem to have an answer for that and just shut the door._

_"I guess she doesn't want to come," I commented and turned to leave._

_"Of course she does," Alice said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She's just getting dressed."_

_And she was right. Two minutes later, the door opened again and a properly styled Rosalie stepped out with Emmett by her side._

_"I guess we're going to get Edward now?" I asked with a sigh._

_Alice nodded and led the way to the fountain where Edward was seated with Mason._

_"Dude, I think the kindergarten wants to talk to you," Mason said to Edward, who turned to see Alice stalking toward him, followed by Rose and their two guys. I just trailed behind and tried to look like I wasn't with them._

_"What's wrong, Alice?" Edward asked in a tone that showed he was expecting something entirely ridiculous._

_"We are going to befriend the new girls," Alice informed him._

_Edward only nodded, not to agree with her, but probably because he'd already heard it in her mind._

_"The new girls? As in the twins?" Mason asked._

_Alice nodded eagerly._

_"Man, you should totally befriend them. I heard that they were smokin'. You can choose which ever one you like; I want the other," he said and laughed at his own 'joke'. If he only knew that the twins didn't even really look alike._

_"Dude, they don't look the same," Emmett told him dryly and managed to interrupt Mason's laughter._

_"Seriously? Aw man, that sucks. Which one's hotter?" Mason asked Emmett with eagerness in his voice._

_"The one that bursts into flames first," Jasper said. He and Emmett both found that one funny and sniggered._

_I just rolled my eyes at their childishness, and so did Mason._

_"Okay, well I'm out. I'll leave you alone with the kindergarten, but tell me all about those girls later," Mason said to Edward before he strolled away._

_"Alice, this is completely ridiculous. It's not your job to make the future come true," Edward complained._

_"Yes it is. Now can you please let me do my job, just this once?" she asked him, pleading with her eyes._

_Edward sighed in defeat._

_"Thank you!" Alice beamed brightly. "Now all of you just sit and look pretty."_

_"I don't look pretty," I protested._

_"Whatever. Nobody cares about your self esteem issues," Rose snapped._

_Instead of honoring her with a retort, I sat down._

_We spent an entire hour sitting outside as Alice attempted to get all of us in a good mood with her mindless chatter. She didn't succeed, but seeing as my mood wasn't entirely down, it was good enough for me. I was just thinking about leaving the group when Alice suddenly jumped up._

_"Hey ladies, where are you going looking this hot?" she shouted. I glanced over to where Alice was looking and saw the twins standing at the entrance of the Red House. Bella had her arm around Chris' waist and they were indeed dressed in short outfits._

_They came closer, both looking at Rose and Edward curiously, and vice versa._

_"Emmett, you didn't tell me that they were such hotties," Rose hissed through clenched teeth._

_"I said they were pretty," Emmett defended himself._

_"They are not pretty," Rose insisted. "My toenail is pretty. These two are_stunning_." She stopped talking when the girls came to a halt in front of us._

_"We're invited to a secret party," Chris answered Alice's question with a big smile on her face._

_I could tell that she was joking, but Alice being Alice took it seriously._

_"What?" she screeched. "How come we're not invited? Is it one of those 'Red House only' parties again? I hate those. I can never get in!" She got up and was about to storm toward our house when Chris spoke._

_"Alice, I was just kid—" she started, but stopped short, looking like she was about to faint or puke or something._

_"Kidding?" Emmett offered as an end to her sentence._

_She nodded and looked a little dazed. She cast a look at her sister, who was staring at the ground, blushing. Her eyes then wandered to Edward and a hint of a grin was seen on her features before she turned her attention to Alice, who decided to take the chance to introduce Edward and Rose._

_Bella introduced herself and Chris as well, but when she looked at Edward, she blushed again._

_Seemed like the new girl was crushing on Edward. It wasn't really much of a surprise._

_I was about to comment on her blush when the fountain sputtered and spat out a little more water than it was supposed to. Emmett, Alice, and Jasper got splashed with water and of course Alice immediately started shrieking._

_"Chill, Alice. It's just water," Chris told her with a grin and then jogged off, pulling her sister along. We all looked after them, except for Alice and Jasper. Alice was still crying and Jasper was attempting to calm her down._

_"Interesting," Edward mused thoughtfully._

_"What is?" I asked him._

_"Couldn't read a single thought," he murmured._

_"Maybe there's nothing in their heads," Emmett joked and this time, I joined in with his laughter._

_Rose snapped something at her boyfriend then, which made him instantly shut up._

_"Are we done here, Alice?" I asked, wanting to get away as fast as possible. Alice still wasn't over the fact that her clothes were wet, so I took her ignorance as a yes and quickly made my leave._

_I didn't need to waste any more of my time today._

Chris was done gathering the clothes she'd thrown around, and shoved them all back into her closet.

"Have you really never heard of organization?" I asked her as I watched her try to push all of her items back in the closet.

"I've heard people talk about it, but when I found out how much work is involved, I didn't want to try it," she answered with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes at her response.

She took the clothes she had just searched for in her closet and threw them at me. Black pants and a black turtle neck sweater.

"Thanks, but I have my own stuff," I told her slowly.

"Just put them on the couch," she said.

I did as she asked and when I turned back to face her, she was standing with her back to me, taking her shirt off. I started to wonder why we always landed in these naked situations.

"Um, Chris, do I even want to know why you're undressing in front of me?" I asked her carefully, a little entranced at the sight of her back and the way her dark hair fell down when she pulled the shirt off. I had a secret obsession with her hair. I had no idea why, but that hardly mattered.

"I'm not undressing, I'm changing," she corrected and turned around to grin at me while putting on a white tank top. She then decided to wiggle out of her pants.

"Maybe I should go wait outside," I suggested slowly, trying not to let my voice squeak or crack as I still couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"A little too late for that," she giggled and then picked up the shorts she'd thrown on the floor. I was pretty sure she'd done that on purpose. I mean, why else would she start undressing without warning, and then bend down, enabling me to admire her behind, which was quite impressive, I might add.

I shook the thought out of my head and tried to tear my gaze away, but Chris quickly pulled on the shorts, solving the problem for me. Still, I was convinced that she'd done it on purpose.

"Before you even say anything, I just came to the conclusion that by now, it really shouldn't matter. You've already made out with me more than enough times, you've seen me in a bathing suit, in my underwear, and naked," she told me and then crawled onto her bed to set the alarm clock.

She was right, so I shrugged and just started to change as well. Seriously, I was a guy. It really didn't matter if she saw me changing, as long as I wasn't changing my boxers.

A small whimper came from the direction of Chris' bed. I turned around and saw her burying her head in her hands.

"Now please tell me you're not hiding your face because I took my shirt off," I said teasingly.

She shook her head, but still didn't look up.

"Then what's your problem?" I asked as I strolled over to her bed.

"I don't have a problem," she answered, her voice muffled.

I sat down on the bed beside her.

"Please tell me you did not just sit down on my bed, half-naked," she whispered.

"Um...I did."

She looked up with a disapproving look on her face. "Get dressed!" she ordered.

I only quirked an eyebrow at her, which only seemed to bother her further. I realized that she was use to people — especially boys who weren't too keen on being on the receiving end of a woman's wrath — usually jumping when she ordered them around. Something else she had in common with Alice.

"Does my being half-naked bother you?" I asked her.

"Maybe a little," she admitted.

"So I was right?" I questioned, feeling triumphant.

"Partly. Now get dressed."

"Only partly?"

"Shirt. On your body. Now."

"Was it the thought of me taking off my pants?"

"Why can't we ever have a normal conversation like normal people?"

"Because we both know that normal isn't interesting."

Chris sighed and sunk back into her pillows.

"Okay, I'll get dressed, but I still want to know what made you of all people whimper." I enjoyed teasing her more then I would ever admit.

She groaned in frustration but at the same time, I heard surrender in her voice. "It was your back, okay? I'm a sucker for muscular backs on men. Now put on a shirt," she told me exasperatedly.

I chuckled quietly to myself and went to quickly change into pajama pants. Chris was still laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, so she didn't notice that I hadn't put on the shirt. I simply threw it over my shoulder.

She heard me approach, though, and sat up. She narrowed her eyes at me and I was pretty sure she was close to a regular Chris outbreak, but it never came. Instead, she reached for the light switch and flicked it off. Then she breezily crawled under the covers of her bed and turned her back to me. I had to admit that this reaction bugged me a little.

I threw back the covers and climbed into the bed with a bruised ego. The moment I laid down, I felt the warmth radiating from Chris. For a brief second, I wondered if it had anything to do with her gift, but it didn't seem like it. I suppressed the urge to pull her close to me and instead tried to concentrate on sleeping.

That didn't work too well.

In my entire life, I don't think I'd ever laid in bed with a girl, not knowing what to do or what to say, and even worse, not being able to relax because I was oddly hyper aware of her presence. It was like a serious illness.

I settled deeper into the covers.

There was a very abrupt movement next to me, and before I knew it, Chris was laying very close, facing me. "Why did you ignore my wishes?" she asked in such a gentle manner that it almost startled me. Between all of her joking, teasing, cursing, and insulting, I was pretty sure I'd never heard the gentle side of her. I wasn't even sure she had one until now.

"I didn't ignore your wishes. I just ignored your poor attempt at trying to be good," I answered huskily.

"Does that mean I'm usually bad?"

"Shouldn't you know the answer to that?" I could see her answering smile in the darkness. A beautiful, breathtaking smile, and it was actually directed at me. "You're beautiful, do you know that?" I told her without really thinking about it.

"I do now," she said softly.

"So no plans to jump me this time? We're all alone now," I joked.

"I'm still thinking about it."

"Okay, well let me know. I'm ready for your bites."

"Sounds like you're trying to tempt me."

"That's 'cause I am."

She hummed in response. Her warm little hands were on my chest then, and they travelled all the way up to my neck. Her hands went into my hair and she knotted her fingers through it. "You should get a haircut," she said, sounding thoughtful.

"But then I wouldn't look sexy in the rain anymore," I told her.

"I'm sure you still would."

"Are you really sure about that? I always thought my dripping hair was the best thing about my whole image."

Chris didn't say anything about that; she just loosened her grip. Her leg slowly stroked mine, and then she slung it over my hip. Somehow she managed to pull me close to her using only her foot.

I stared at her face the whole time.

She let out a quiet giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"Your face," she answered. And then she reached up to kiss me. For once, it was on her own free will and with no reason to feel guilty about it.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The sound of an alarm clock pulled me out of my dreams. I wasn't too thrilled about that. I was actually enjoying my dreams.

Like so often in the past weeks since I'd started teaching her, I'd dreamed of Chris; only she and I.

In a bed. All alone.

Lots of touching.

And kissing.

And her beautiful long tresses of silk.

"Turn it off," I heard Chris groan.

I opened my eyes and that's when I realized that it hadn't been a dream because Chris was actually laying in my arms. I reached over to the nightstand and turned the annoying alarm clock off. I sighed when I saw that it was one o'clock.

Chris yawned quietly and awkwardly untangled herself from me. I couldn't say I liked that much, which is why I refused to let her go. But she didn't even make a move to get away or show any sign of _wanting_ to get away. She just lay beside me now, rather than partly on top of me.

"Ready for your big day?" I asked her.

She merely grumbled an unintelligible reply.

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" I inquired, feigning shock.

"Shut up," she mumbled and buried her face in the crook of my neck. I didn't mind, although we had to get up soon if we wanted to be ready on time.

I absentmindedly played with a lock of Chris' hair and wondered how in the world we'd managed to land here. After everything, I would've thought that the outcome of today would be me sleeping on the floor next to her bed. I figured when she decided to get up, she'd step on me, making sure to jump so she could be certain that she caused me pain. But instead, Chris let out a content sigh in my arms. I'd discovered that she liked it when I played with her hair.

That was something we had in common.

"Chris, don't you think we should get up?" I asked after a few more silent minutes had passed. I didn't really wanna get up, but we didn't have much of a choice.

"I don't want to," she whined.

"We don't have to. We'll just live with this big secret for the rest of our lives, hoping that none of us ever slip up and accidentally tell someone, otherwise we would all die," I said lightly.

I heard Chris curse and smiled as she sat up and climbed over me to get out of the bed. She went to get the clothes that she'd chosen to wear a few hours earlier and then left the room. I heard her knock on Bella's door.

Edward entered the room then, not even bothering to knock. "Seems like you had an enjoyable night," he observed, already fully dressed.

I narrowed my eyes at him and got out of the bed so I could get dressed as well. "I guess you could say that," I murmured with a slight shrug.

"But you guys didn't..." he didn't bother finishing his question.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Should I be asking you the same question?" I questioned him with a smirk.

Now it was Edward's turn to narrow his eyes at me. I knew that he did that to enter my mind, and I didn't bother putting up a fight. Edward let out a grunt of disgust and shuddered.

"Liked what you saw?"

"I really didn't need to think of Chris in that way."

"Strange," I murmured. "Not even after the million times she's felt you all over her?"

"I wasn't...ugh, sometimes I wonder why I even try to explain myself," he said with a shake of his head.

"You know, I don't think you've ever told me why you're so crazy in love with Bella these days," I noted.

Edward opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the return of Chris. She looked at me and Edward for a brief moment before carrying on without saying anything. She threw her sleeping clothes on the couch and then went to her dresser to fix her hair.

Bella entered the room then, as if looking for something, but then she saw Edward and a sweet smile spread across her face.

Both of the twins wore their hair in a high ponytail and were dressed similarly. I realized then that they really didn't look as different as everyone always said they did.

I kept that little tidbit of information in my mind and looked at the time. "Okay, since nobody says anything, I'd say it's time," I threw into the quiet room. The others looked at the time as well. One thirty sharp. "Who wants to go first?" I asked with my arms wide open.

"Can't you beam all of us out?" Bella asked.

I shook my head. "Too many people and too much distance. I have to bring you all the way to the back of the building. No can do," I smiled apologetically at her.

Edward sighed and then approached me. "Let's go," he said and pulled me in for a brotherly hug.

Bella seemed to find this heartwarming, so I sent her a quick wink before I vanished with Edward.

"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone," I warned him before beaming back go the room. "I can transport you two at once," I told them as soon as I was standing in front of the girls. Without waiting for a response, I hugged them both tightly and a second later, we joined Edward.

"Everyone here?" he asked.

"No. One is missing," Chris answered sarcastically.

Edward shoved her lightly and then led the way. He'd memorized the route that we were supposed to take, so he knew the way pretty well. We moved quietly and only talked to each other in nearly silent whispers. We were lucky because none of the security guards appeared on our way. When we stood at the set meeting point, we waited silently for the others to arrive.

"Oh," Chris breathed suddenly. We all looked at her in surprise because nobody had said anything. "Oh," she repeated with a little more intensity. "Oh, oh. _Oh!_"

"What, oh?" I asked her, slightly impatient.

She ignored me, though, and looked at Bella and then at Edward. She then hugged her sister tightly and started kissing her cheeks like a mother who hadn't seen her child in years.

I looked at Edward in question, but he only shrugged in response. Apparently their connection wasn't made yet.

Chris stopped kissing Bella and went over to Edward. She punched him on his arm, causing him to surpress a groan of pain and lean down to cradle his pained arm. Now that his head was on her level, she patted his head a little harder than necessary and then said, "Congrats, you guys!" She skipped over to my side and grinned up at me. "Aren't they cute?" she asked, looking at Edward and Bella.

Bella was softly caressing Edward's sore arm, and Edward, who was apparently still in pain, seemed to be trying to man up and embrace the pain.

"Um, yeah. Adorable," I muttered somewhat awkwardly. "Why exactly did you punch him?"

"I knew they'd be here before us," I suddenly heard Rose's voice hiss from behind us.

We turned and saw the rest of the group making their way over to us.

"I bet they didn't even have to hide from one of the guards," grumbled Emmett.

"No, we didn't," I told him when they stopped in front of us.

"What's with Edward?" Jasper asked when they all noticed him and Bella.

"Chris punched him on the arm. Like legit boxer-style punch," I answered.

"Why?" Emmett asked curiously.

It was kind of sad that no one felt sorry for him. But he'd already recovered himself and stood up straight again, trying not to look as if he was just crouched in pain because a girl had punched him.

"He loves Bella," Chris resolved with a dark edge in her voice as she eyed Edward. Chris being so protective of her sister made me wonder what their father was like. _Yikes._

Rose and Alice seemed to be absolutely thrilled by this news, and they quickly dashed up to the happy couple. Or rather Bella. They immediately started hounding her with a million questions, completely ignoring the boyfriend that went along with her.

Edward stood there, scratching his head and looking a little lost as the girls kidnapped his girlfriend.

"Dude, you seriously love her?" Emmett asked and clapped Edward on his back.

"Yes."

"You really told her that?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"And you're a hundred percent sure?" Jasper asked.

Edward nodded again.

"Does she love you?"

"Yes," Edward answered, echoing his first answer as a big goofy grin spread across his face.

"That's awesome, man," Emmett congratulated with yet another clap on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, you rock. Aren't we on a mission here?" Chris barged into our conversation. Between all of us guys, she looked really tiny.

Jasper glanced down at his watch. "One forty-three. We should get going." The girls immediately stopped harassing Bella and switched into business mode. Jasper led the way into the woods and the girls forgot about their serious attitude and went back to torturing Bella.

The poor girl didn't even get a chance to answer the questions because they just kept on asking them. Finally, five minutes were over and we came to a very small meadow. Jasper was eerily good at planning things like that. I briefly wondered if there was something he did in his spare time that we should know about.

"Okay. Rose, Bella, don't go anywhere," Jasper instructed and looked at the two girls in that strict manner of his.

They both nodded and I was sure I saw each of their hands twitch as if they were considering saluting.

Emmett and Edward kissed their better halves goodbye before Jasper ordered us to get moving away.

I saw Chris send a small wave to her sister. Judging by her body language, she was nervous. I took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She didn't pull away; she didn't really react in anyway.

The high building — our destination — came into view then and we could see that there was light coming from the top floor.

This time, Chris reacted by squeezing my hand tightly.

"Are you ready?" Jasper asked Chris, sounding more worried than anything else, which was odd for him since he was usually so calm and collected. His eyes flitted over to Alice, who was rubbing her temples and seemed to be trying something.

"I can't see anything that's going to happen up there," she whispered loud enough for just our little group to hear.

That seemed to make Jasper even more uncomfortable.

"Jasper, you really shouldn't worry so much. I think I could be a pretty decent protector if I need to be," Chris said to him. He looked at her and smiled slightly when Chris held up her free hand with a little flame dancing on her fingertip. "I trained that too."

"Jasper, don't worry so much. I'll be fine. Really. As a matter of fact, I will be back in my bed in two hours," Alice said to him and reached up to put her hands on his shoulders.

Jasper closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath before nodding and reopening his peepers.

"Ready?" I asked the two girls then, knowing it was now our time to depart.

Alice nodded bravely and Chris whispered her confirmation.

"Chris, you need to focus," I told her once more.

"I know, I know. Under the table. I memorized the sketches."

I nodded.

Alice took Chris' free hand, and then my free hand.

"On three," I breathed. "One...two...three." I started to beam together with Chris and Alice, and pulled them in the right direction, but before their destination appeared, I quickly let go and changed my goal. I joined Rose and Bella in the woods, and as soon as I hit the ground, they looked at me, as if demanding answers.

But the truth was that I didn't know what happened to Chris and Alice. No one except the two of them knew. The girls seemed to grasp that as well just by looking at my face.

"Shall we start our round?" asked Rose.

Bella shook her head. "Not yet." We waited a few moments in silence. "Now," Bella instructed suddenly.

I led the way, having memorized the route.

"I really don't like the fact that we are the patrol of this little mission," Rose complained.

"Somebody has to keep cover," Bella reasoned, and she was right about that. As soon as we starting wandering around our assigned route, Bella reached into Chris' mind to give us a play-by-play on what was going on. "Irina seems to be waiting for someone and is pacing up and down the room. From Chris' perspective, I can see a kettle in the room. A very big one," Bella stared blankly ahead while Rose made sure she didn't fall or trip over anything. "Someone's entering the room. A woman, judging by the shoes. Alice says it's...Victoria Nomad?" Bella's voice finished in a surprised question.

"I always knew there was a reason I didn't like that women," commented Rose.

"She's putting something in the kettle," Bella continued. "Irina and Victoria don't seem to get along; they're just fighting. Another person's entering. Male. Demetri Sleigh," she said. "They're talking about the potion in the kettle. It's supposed to be ready in a week. And now...now they're talking about how to get us—" Bella stopped abruptly.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Rose and I asked at the same time.

Bella didn't say anything and I started to get worried. "Bella? Bella, what's wrong?" I urged while Rose started shaking her softly.

She snapped out of it then. "We have to get to Mr. Decour," she said, panic evident in her voice.

I reacted on instinct and quickly pulled the two girls close, beaming us right to the front door of Mr. Decour's house.

Bella seemed to be way passed panicked. She instantly started ringing the doorbell like crazy while knocking at the same time and shouting our teacher's name.

Rose and I had no clue what was happening or what to do, so we just stood there helplessly, scared that something happened.

After what seemed like an eternity to me, the door finally opened. Mr. Decour looked at us. It was obviously that we'd disturbed him from his sleep, since his eyes were drooping and he looked like he'd just gotten up, which he clearly had. He took a moment to grasp the fact that his students had just pulled him out of bed at this hour, but he couldn't ask anything because Bella stormed right into his hallway and we followed.

Bella turned abruptly while Mr. Decour closed the front door softly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his heavily French accented voice thick with sleep.

"We lost Chris and Alice!" Bella cried. "We were just trying to find out about Irina and the rest, but then someone else joined their group and he said something about having spies there, and then he pulled back the table and then Chris and Alice vanished."

"Okay, Bella. Slow down and tell me exactly what happened," Mr. Decour instructed calmly and led her to the dining room. He pulled out a chair and gently pushed her down on it.

"We were trying to find out who Irina works with — for — since you didn't know, so we sent Chris and Alice to spy on them and they recognized Victoria Nomad and Demetri Sleigh. Jasper had said that they should only stay for ten minutes at the most, and the time was almost up when another man entered the room. I didn't recognize his voice; it was just so...horrifying. He seemed to have noticed that Chris and Alice were under the table, because he pulled it aside and then they just vanished," Bella recounted a little slower than before, as sobs overtook here.

Rose had already looked bad before, but now I was starting to worry that she might pass out. What had me even more worried was the fact that Chris and Alice had vanished. I wanted to go join the guys, but I wasn't sure if I should leave the girls alone like this.

Mr. Decour's expression changed in a flash when Bella finished talking. He reached out to me for a moment and then he disappeared right before my eyes. I was too shocked to really pay attention to it. He reappeared a minute later, fully dressed. He handed me a key. "Are there any more of you out there?" he asked urgently. We all nodded. "Make sure they all get safely to this house immediately. You will stay here until tomorrow morning, and you will not leave until the beginning of the fair the day after. Make sure you mingle as much as you can in the crowd, and _don't_ walk around alone," he instructed.

I nodded numbly.

"Where are you going?" Bella asked him desperately. I could tell that she'd put all her hopes in him to save her twin sister.

I couldn't say that I was any different.

"I'm going to get Ms. Carmina and we are going to take care of some business. We will be back as soon as we possibly can be. In the mean time, I don't want you doing anything stupid. Stay away from everyone who doesn't know anything about this," he answered and then vanished once again.

We all stared at the empty space.

"What are you staring at, Dylan? Go get those boys! Now!" Rose yelled at me, making me jump.

I complied myself quickly and beamed to where I assumed the boys would be.

Only they weren't there.

Instead, I came face to face with a _very_ enraged Irina.

Before anything could happen, I beamed the hell away from her.

I wasn't sure if Jasper and the others had managed to save themselves, but if they had, they'd probably stuck to the plan and gone to the elementary school.

I beamed there and scoped for them.

"Dylan?" I heard Edward's voice ask.

My heart jumped and felt a few tonnes lighter.

"What happened, man?" Emmett asked.

"No time for explanation," I burst out. "We all need to get to Mr. Decour's house." Then I turned to Edward. "Will you be alright on your own?"

He nodded.

I pulled Emmett and Jasper close and beamed us back into the house. The boys were a lot heavier than the girls and I could feel my power weaken. I dragged myself to the door and opened it. In that exact moment, Edward dashed in.

He was immediately by Bella's side.

That's when the three guys asked the one question that was in all of our heads.

"What happened?"

**Alice POV**

Dylan let go of our hands, and a mere moment later, we were in a dimly lit room.

I looked around and saw that Chris had actually made it and landed us right beneath the table. Apparently she'd learned a lot from Dylan.

Chris elbowed me lightly and gestured toward a pair of legs that stood on the other side of the room. Basing my guess on the choice of tasteless shoes, I figured it was Irina. She was tapping her foot impatiently, cursing every now and then. It seemed like she was waiting for someone.

Chris looked very focused and I was sure she was doing her best to see every little detail so we could inform the others.

I came to realize that the force that had stopped me earlier from seeing what was going on in this room was no longer in my way. I wanted to tell Chris, but another pair of disgusting designer knockoffs made their way into the room.

I barely restrained myself from gagging.

So instead of focusing on those grotesque shoes, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the future as I rubbed my temples, trying to see even just a few seconds into the future to see who it was that had entered the room. Even though I could see again, it was limited. I only caught a quick glimpse, but I didn't need any more than that. I knew the person.

I leaned over to Chris and whispered the name of that secretary bitch in her ear. Chris' eyes widened and she nodded silently.

Victoria was adding new ingredients to the substance blubbering inside that giant kettle, which stood on the other side of the room. While doing so, she continuously snapping things at Irina, who happily replied with something just as snarky. It went on and on like that until a third person entered the room. This time, it was a man.

"Can't you two be quiet just once?" he asked in a calm manner that reminded me of my Jazzy, only Jazz didn't sound so...dead.

I concentrated on seeing a few more moments ahead and the person I saw surprised me even more than that red-headed bitch. I covered my mouth quickly so I wouldn't gasp out loud. I wouldn't want Jazz to think that the mission failed because of me. Once again, I turned to Chris and informed her who the third person was.

"How much longer is this dish water going to need anyway?" I heard Irina complain.

Victoria huffed at that. "Dish water? This is one of the most ancient potions of all time. But of course you wouldn't know that, you ignorant twat."

I'd never liked the sound of her voice much.

"It's going to take one more week. What a great way to end fair week," Demetri answered Irina's question, but still didn't sound as if he meant it.

"Really? And how exactly do you plan on getting the twins here?" Irina asked in a bored tone.

The twins?

I looked at Chris, who looked just as surprised as I felt.

"Oh, I already have a simple idea for that. We'll just—"

"Victoria," a forth voice thundered. It was male, but not one that I recognized. He sounded cold, cruel, and deadly.

"Yes, Master?" Victoria replied, submission clear in her voice.

"Do you really think it's appropriate for us to be talking about our plans when we have guests?" the voice asked.

I heard heavy footsteps approaching.

How did he know?

Chris looked surprised as well, but reacted fast and pulled me into her arms. I heard her count so quietly it was almost silent, probably to gather her thoughts.

_One..._ "I don't understand, Master. What guests?" Victoria asked.

_...two..._ "The ones that have been hiding under this table for quite a while," the voice answered.

_...three..._ The table above us was being pushed away with such great force that it flew. My eyes were already squeezed tightly together in fear of what would come next.

But nothing happened. My whole body was shaking so hard that I was sure I sounded like a vibrating phone, but then I realized that it wasn't only me shaking. Chris was too, and she still had me in that tight embrace as if to protect me from the whole world.

"Are you okay, Alice?" she asked me.

I nodded and slowly opened my eyes. And I saw nothing at first. "Chris, where are we?" I asked, sounding just as scared as I was.

Chris looked up and then the nothing that I saw started to fade as if it were mist. Instead of being in the nothing, we were in a meadow in the middle of a jungle. At least that's what it looked like with it's tropical trees and hot weather. But something was strange. I didn't hear any animals, for instance.

"Where are we?" I asked again, scared that Chris had brought us to the middle of no where.

Chris got up and looked behind a tree. She rushed back to me, shrieking as a seemingly transparent human floated behind her. She was immediately by my side, wrapping her arms around me, but the thing just flew passed us, leaving a strange feeling of cold in it's wake.

"What was that?" Chris choked.

"If I am not mistaken, _that_, my friend, was a ghost."

"A _ghost?_" she screeched. Her voice wasn't echoed around or anything of the sort, which I found kind of strange. "I think I know where we are, Alice," Chris said after a while and looked at me with an apologetic expression. "We are on the astral plane."

* * *

**_A/N:_ There you go. I apologzize for any mistakes in this chapter. I am tired, my beta is tired and I didn't want to keep you waiting. So after an incredibly long author's note at the top, I decided to keep it short at the bottom.**

**1) I love every single person, who reads this story :D**

**2) I know that there are sometimes little things happening on which I don't elaborate, but they do get a bigger meaning later on. **

**3) You should really review a lot more often in order to get a chapter, I seriously work better with those. Seriously, I love hearing from you guys.**

**4) I love love and if that's wrong I don't want to be right. Just in case anyone is unhappy about the ChrisxDylan chapter :P**

**5) 80 reviews! I don't know if I should laugh or cry, but I'll decide later on when I have ninety (hehhehheheheh)**

**Okay kids, I will now rest and let you enjoy this incredibly long chapter... I try my best to update soon! :D**


	18. Back and Forth

**_A/N:_ Hello and welcome back to another episode of _Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students_ :D Today's episode will be called Back and forth, simply because I had to jump back and forth between the POVs. I hope you don't mind too much...**

**Soo, a few things I need to say, before I let you read: 1) Thank you _dawn mae- _I am more than happy that you reviewed so much ( it made the number go up) **

**2) _Laratwilighter_- I could have kissed you, hugged you and married you for your review. I'm glad that you like the two idiots I created :D**

**3) I'm sorry, if there is not enough ExB in the story :( There are a couple of reasons for that. First one: The story plotline doesn't resolve around love and those kind of thing. Also I have somethng big in stock for those two, so yeah and last but not least: I don't know why, but somehow I'm always getting stuck in this story when I have to write something about Edward-.- So _bellacullen202_ I'm sorry. Really and a lot...**

**4) Thank you xBookLover17x :D My beta and Iare very grateful for your review**

**5) Of course I love all my readers and I would list all of your names and say thank you, but I'm too lazy ( way to show my gratitude) so yeah...sorry -.-' I sometimes suck like that...**

**Hmm...anything else? No? Okay:)**

* * *

**Alice POV**

"Great, because of you, we're lost," I snapped at Chris, looking around for something - anything - that looked familiar.

We'd somehow found ourselves at a paved walkway that went through the jungle. I really didn't why it was there, but the astral plane wasn't known for being a very straight-forward place.

"Me?" Chris asked. "I didn't get us lost. You decided to wander off, and now we don't know how to get back to where we were!"

"I'm not talking about that stupid meadow. Why would we even want to go back there anyway? I meant it's your fault that we are on the astral plane in the first place."

"First of all, it's kind of important where in the plane we actually are, because I could have made it to the right spot, just in the wrong dimension. And secondly, I think you should be more grateful for me since I saved our lives."

"Oh yes, I'm grateful. Now I'm gonna die a slow death because I'm going to starve in the middle of no where instead of being killed quick, and maybe even painlessly, by some psychopath."

I wasn't enjoying this trip at all. We'd been wandering around for hours before we made it to this pavement or road or whatever it was. It seemed to be endless, but I made up my mind to follow the trail anyway.

Chris muttered something I didn't catch, which was probably a good thing, because I couldn't imagine it was something nice. It probably also would have made me want to throttle her even more than I already did for getting us stuck in this mess.

"I'm hungry," I complained after a while of silence and Chris snorted at me. "And thirsty," I added. Again, I received no verbal reply. "And tired."

"Dammit Alice, what do you expect me to do? Shall I just make food and shelter magically appear?" Chris yelled.

I flinched. I didn't like it when people yelled at me. "You could try," I whimpered.

Chris only gave me a responding huff as we continued walking through the dense jungle, hearing nothing more than our own soft steps and heavy breathing.

**Bella POV**

It was already three o'clock and there was still no sign of Chris.

I was going crazy hoping that nothing had happened to her and not wanting to believe that it was a possibility. Of course I was also worried about Alice, but Chris was my twin sister.

The bond seemed to be numb because I currently felt nothing coming from Chris, and when I reached through it, there was nothing to be heard, which only proved to irk me more.

I remembered that day a few months ago when the bond had completely cut off, only to regenerate. This was not the same thing. It was still present, I could feel that much, but it was silent. Completely and utterly mute.

At least I knew that she and Alice were together where ever they were.

We'd moved from the dining room and into Laurent's living room. It was small, but comfortable and warm, and the couch was actually big enough to allow all of us to sit without being squished. But we didn't use that to our advantage. Instead, Rose and I sat huddled together in each others arms, trying to stay as calm as possible.

Edward was sitting at my feet, leaning against my legs and constantly running his hand through his hair. He was anxious. Jasper was pacing up and down, mumbling to himself. By the sounds of it, he was blaming himself for everything. Dylan and Emmett were somewhere upstairs. After Dylan disappeared there and we heard a crash, Emmett had raced up after him.

"Jasper, it wasn't your fault," Edward murmured quietly, interrupting Jasper's pacing.

"How can you say that?" Jasper retorted immediately. He was more than outraged. "It was _my_ idea to go after them, and it was _my_ idea to send Alice in there. It was _my_ plan, and it's _my_ fault." I could tell his anger wasn't directed at Edward, but at himself.

"Jasper, it is not your fault," Edward tried again, this time a bit more forcefully. "You didn't know they had a protection charm around the room; not even Alice saw that."

"You're right, I didn't, but I could have stopped this whole thing from happening if I had just pulled the plug on this operation the moment we realized you couldn't hear their thoughts and I couldn't feel their emotions."

Edward sighed, sensing it was pointless to try to get Jasper to see that it wasn't his fault.

When we'd regrouped at Laurent's place, the boys told us what had happened to them. When Dylan, Chris, and Alice took off, Edward noticed that he couldn't read the thoughts of anyone up there, and Jasper couldn't sense anything either. Apparently Alice had mentioned only moments before that she couldn't see anything. However, Edward was still able to get into my mind, so he just kept tabs on me while I was in Chris' mind.

Then when everything went south, and my group went to go get Mr. Decour, Edward and the others were suddenly surrounded by Victoria, Irina, and Demetri. Jasper had managed to confuse them long enough to enable them to quickly flee. They hid behind the school in case they were being followed, and then Dylan luckily appeared to rescue them.

I filled the guys in on what happened with Chris and Alice, and Dylan informed them of what Laurent had said to us.

Even in a stressed situation like this, Edward was paying close attention.

"What do you mean he just disappeared?" he asked in confusion.

"I think he beamed," Dylan answered with a shrug.

Edward just looked thoughtful after that.

And then somehow, we came to where we are now. After staring at me for an hour and still not hearing anything from Chris, everyone freaked out and dealt with it in their own way.

Dylan and Emmett reappeared then, both looking a little like they'd had a fight. I didn't bother asking them about that. All I wanted right now was my sister back. I'd never been so scared in my life, and the thought of something possibly happening to someone as cute, little, and innocent as Alice only made it worse.

Edward, having heard my thoughts, patted my leg softly, trying to calm me and not succeeding at all.

Another hour flew by without any news from our two missing friends.

**Alice POV**

We were wandering through the woods again, searching for a meadow or a place to rest. My feet were killing me, my throat was burning, and my clothes were uncomfortably clinging to my stick.

Even if Chris did her best to seem as unaffected by this as she could, I could still see that she was just as exhausted as I was. She had tried beaming us back out several times, but it never worked. We only landed somewhere else within this expanse of nothingness.

Suddenly there was a snake right in front of my feet. I squealed and jumped back, bumping into Chris. She looked down and saw the three-headed snake. Her body went rigid, but she made no sound. Instead, she threw a flame at the reptile in front of us, effectively burning it.

"Thanks," I mumbled to her with a sigh of relief.

"No problem," she replied, but I knew that wasn't true. This whole situation was taking a toll on her, just like it was on me. But instead of whining, complaining, crying, and shrieking like me, she was staying as calm as she could, only occasionally yelling at me for getting on her nerves, but still not reacting as much as she normally would.

The thought that she was trying to protect me and stay calm in order for me not to freak out crossed my mind. Her staying calm, unlike me, probably helped because I was sure I would have had much worse outbursts than the ones that already occurred had she not been placid.

After wandering around over endless rocks, roots, and dirt, a meadow finally came in our sight and I instantly recognized it. It was the same as the one we'd been at when we originally landed here.

Chris seemed to notice this too and let out a grunt of recognition.

I sank down on the dirty ground, already beyond caring if I got dirt or mud on me. I leaned against the giant tree behind me and enjoyed the only good thing about this. My feet could finally relax.

Chris sat down next to me, not uttering a single word. Our conversations hadn't exactly been the most productive since we got here.

"Chris, I'm sorry for yelling at you and blaming you for everything," I said softly to her and she turned to look at me in surprise. "I mean, I know you only wanted to save us, and it's not your fault that we landed here. Well, it kind of is, but you know, being a beginner at this whole teleportation thing—"

"Thanks, Alice," Chris interrupted my senseless rambling and actually smiled a little at me.

"You know, I think you actually did quite well tonight. I'm pretty sure it would have been worse if you hadn't managed to get us out of there, despite what I said earlier."

"You don't have to try to make me feel better, Alice," Chris told me with a grin. It wasn't like her usual smile, though.

"Yes, I do. We're in this mess together, and it'll be much more bearable if we comfort each other," I told her wisely.

She only shook her head and slung her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees and staring off into space.

"Maybe you should try beaming again," I suggested.

"I can't. We've already used all of the stone's energy for now," she mumbled.

"Well damn. Of course it would be harder for us to get away than it was for Dylan," I grumbled.

Chris' ears perked up at that. "How did he escape? He only told me how he got stuck here for three days."

"Oh, he told you that?"

She nodded.

"Well, I asked him once and he said that he couldn't beam back into the right dimension, but he could get to the spot he wanted to be. At one point, he just got so desperate to get back home to us that it just worked.

Chris looked thoughtful for a minute. "Desires are sometimes stronger than thoughts," I heard her mutter to herself.

"Huh?"

She shook her head slowly. "Nothing really. It's just...Dylan once said that desires are stronger than thoughts. You land somewhere you want to be instead of where you should."

"You should totally give me the stone then, because I really wanna get back to Jazz," I replied, making her chuckle.

"I think we should wait for it to reload it's energy."

I sighed. The stones sucked their energy from the person who wore it, so the reloading worked best when the person was sleeping.

**Bella POV**

It was almost six and the situation in the house hadn't changed much. We rarely spoke, and barely moved. Rose had fallen asleep beside me, but the rest of us were wide awake.

Jasper had long ago stopped his pacing, but was by no means relaxed. Edward dozed off every now and then, but always woke up with a start. Maybe he wasn't as awake as he wanted to be.

Dylan sat quietly in a corner with a sketchpad and pencils, furiously sketching on it, and seemingly focused entirely on the task.

Emmett decided to Rosalie upstairs to one of the bedrooms then.

"Maybe you should go too," Edward suggested softly and I looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "You should sleep," he elaborated.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You're the one who keeps dozing off," I noted.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Go with Emmett and at least keep Rose company," he said.

I gave in with a sigh. I knew deep down in my mind that he was right and that I should sleep, but my mind wasn't willing to accept that.

I followed Emmett, who had Rose cuddled in his arms, as he carefully carried her up the stairs. He turned into the first room on the left. It was a beautiful and tidy bedroom, darkened by the curtains. Emmett gently placed Rose on the bed and kissed her cheek softly. Then he turned to me with a sad smile on us usually cheerful face.

"You should really try to sleep," he murmured to me before pulling me in for a gentle hug.

I hadn't even noticed that tears were streaming down my face until I saw them soaking through Emmett's shirt. I'd been working very hard to keep them at bay, but for some reason, Emmett's concerned behavior set me off. He pulled me down on the bed beside him and held me as I cried, not trying to tell me that everything was going to be fine or that I shouldn't be sad. Instead, he merely comfortingly rubbed my back and just allowed me to cry.

I sobbed and sniffled in an attempt to gain control over the tears. Hundreds of images flew through my head.

How, when we were five, Chris always insisted on wearing the same clothes as me. How Chris used to be afraid of going to the bathroom on her own. She would always tug me along when she had to use the bathroom while I always needed her in crowded places.

I hadn't been very comfortable around people, and Chris hadn't always been as independent as she was now. We had always been like one person until we turned fourteen and tried to do our own thing. It never really succeeded much, but it worked enough for others not to think of us as one person anymore.

I remember the time I had to stay at the hospital over night and I cried the whole time because Chris hadn't been there. Back then, I had felt empty when she was gone. Now it was so much worse. I didn't just feel empty. I felt as if someone had taken my arms and legs and told me to fend for myself without them.

I always thought of myself as more brilliant than Chris, but now that she was gone, I could feel that the workings of my brain slowed down in the same way I felt as if my heartbeats had lessened. It hadn't been this bad when I was downstairs with Edward close to me, knowing that there was someone who cared about me just as much as my sister did. But without Edward's soothing presence, there was nothing left.

I definitely wasn't a person when my sister wasn't around, and I wondered how long it would take before I shattered to pieces.

Sleep overcame me slowly and soon, the pain in my heart dulled, only for my mind to be plagued by nightmares.

**Alice POV**

Chris didn't sleep. I noticed that every time I woke for a brief moment. She would just be sitting there in the same position as she was before, looking blankly ahead. One time I asked her if she just didn't want to sleep.

"Someone has to stay awake and keep watch," she'd explained.

"I could do that much better than you," I'd told her with a roll of my eyes.

Chris had sighed. "I'm trying to connect with Bella, but it's not working," she then explained and went back to staring at nothing in particular.

I let the conversation drop then. I knew she was more than just a little worried about the fact that she couldn't reach Bella. It was right after she came to the conclusion that we were on the astral plane that she'd noticed that.

_"The astral plane? Seriously? How the hell did you manage to get us here? Of all the places in the world, you just_had_to beam us to the one place that is not in the world!" I screeched at Chris._

_She looked up at me and quirked an eyebrow. "You know, you might wanna calm down a bit, otherwise I'll beam back without you," she said to me._

_I narrowed my eyes at her but shut up anyway._

_Chris smiled smugly and then slung her arms around me._

_I really hated beaming. To me, it felt like being jammed into a pipe that didn't allow you to breathe. I was relieved that it didn't take too long to do, though. I opened my eyes and looked around. I couldn't really explain where we were. It was completely white. I couldn't even distinguish the difference between up and down._

_I frowned. "I think you got it wrong," I then sneered at Chris._

_Now it was her turn to narrow her eyes at me before she tried again._

_We landed in that meadow once more. Chris looked like she'd had some kind of realization and squeezed her eyes shut. This time, she didn't even manage to move us an inch. How pathetic._

_"Are you done now?" I asked her, feeling a little annoyed. To say I was pissed at having to be here was the understatement of the century. I knew that I shouldn't be taking it out on Chris, but I couldn't help it._

_"I think so," she answered and I heard the blatant disappointment in her voice._

_"So what do we do now?" I asked, trying my best not to sound as bitchy as I did before._

_Chris shrugged, but then she looked like she had an idea. She closed her eyes._

_"What are you doing? Meditating?"_

_"No, I'm trying to talk to Bella."_

_"Is it working?" This place was really messing with my patience._

_Chris' brow furrowed, but she said nothing. After a few moments of silence, her shoulders slumped and she looked at me with watery eyes. "I can't talk to Bella," she muttered helplessly._

_"What do you mean you can't talk to her? Don't you think this is a bad time to be lacking in skills? You should be concentrating a lot more, really. That way, we wouldn't even be here."_

_"Hey, I was in a panic and I was concentrating on the right place," Chris instantly defended herself._

_"Then why are we here?"_

_She looked away, guilt etched onto her face. "I think I lapsed in control for just a tiny second," she mumbled._

_"Well then concentrate and try to get to Bella now," I instructed._

_"You don't understand__—"_

_"Of course I don't. I don't think I'll ever understand that bond between the two of you. I really don't get how it's supposed to form on it's own. I mean, I get how it works when you forge one, yours—"_

_"That's not what I meant," Chris yelled. I looked at her. "I meant I can't connect to Bella because the bond isn't working the way it usually does. It's numb or something. I can't feel a thing!"_

_That was, of course, very bad news. I watched Chris as she paced up and down, muttering in a way that made her sound like one of those crazy people in the movies._

_"Of course I had to get my wish at the wrong time," I heard her say once._

So here we were now, with no plan of escape, and Chris was still worrying about the fact that she couldn't communicate with her sister. I knew that she already had the worst scenarios running through her head.

"It's probably not working because we're in another dimension," I suggested once.

"But the bond _always_works," Chris replied.

"Yes, but right now, we're technically in the world of death, or at least as close as you can get to it without actually being dead. I can't see anything that's going on at home," I told her.

"Are you sure? Have you even tried?"

"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure. I just tried to see something earlier and failed," I answered slowly.

"You lied to Jasper, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You told him that we were going to be alright and that you'd be lying in your bed two hours later. Now it's probably been way more than two hours and we're still here." She looked at her watched while she spoke, though there was no use.

Time simply didn't exist in this place.

**Bella POV**

I woke up when I felt the bed shift beside me. I slowly opened my eyes to see Rose's are coming toward me, and before I could react, it had already slung itself around me. When I tried to free myself from her grip, she just pulled me close and threw a leg over me to top it off. She was practically lying on top me of when the door opened. I couldn't look up, but the chuckle I heard definitely came from Emmett.

"Don't laugh, help me!" I whisper-screamed breathlessly, still trying to free myself from her iron grasp.

Emmett's arms wrapped around Rose and pried her gently off of me. "She tends to do that often. You're lucky, she can get a lot worse. I can't remember how many times she's thrown me out of the bed," he told me.

I smiled weakly at him and got up.

Emmett's expression quickly switched back to one of concern. "Hey, if you're hungry, Edward made some breakfast."

I nodded and went downstairs, smelling pancakes the moment I stepped out of the bedroom.

Emmett didn't come down with me.

I followed the scent of pancakes and landed in the kitchen where Edward stood at the stove, and Dylan was sat at the table.

"Morning," I mumbled when I entered. The two boys turned their attention to me and I couldn't help but to smile back when both of them showed similar smiles at the same time.

"Good morning, Bella. How was your sleep?" Dylan asked a little too cheerfully.

"It was okay until Rose tried to suffocate me."

Edward chuckled at that. "She really is horrible to sleep next to," he said. Dylan and I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I can read minds, remember?" Edward said, erasing any kind of suspicion.

We both just nodded.

"Speaking of sleep," I started. "Did either of you get any sleep?"

"Not a wink," Dylan answered for the both of them.

I frowned at that. "What about Jasper?"

"He fell asleep on the couch. I think he's still sleeping."

Edward came up behind me and pushed me gently into one of the kitchen chairs, then placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. I didn't bother telling him that I wasn't hungry because I knew he would probably make me eat anyway.

Silence followed as I dug into my pancakes. Edward was watching me and Dylan was staring out the window.

I sighed and tried to break this misery. I really didn't need it after last night. "So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked lightly.

"We're going to the fair opening this afternoon," Edward told me.

"Oh God, the fair starts today. I forgot about that."

"Bella, chill," Dylan said calmly.

"What time is it?" I demanded.

"Ten."

"I have to be at the Hydro meeting at eleven. We have final rehearsals," I said and instantly jumped up.

"Sit down, Bella," Edward calmed me, but it didn't really help.

My mind was already racing.

"I have to go through the whole planning and I said that I'd help check on the perfumery and I promised Japree that I would go to his tasting and I have to try on—"

"Bella, calm yourself," Edward said a little more urgently than before.

"Do you guys have to go to your groups too or no? Oh God, we're probably messing up the whole fair for everyone—" I was already halfway out the door.

"Bella, you're not going anywhere," Edward told me, making me pause in my motions.

I looked at him. "Of course I am. I can't just leave them all hanging like that. They expect me to help them. Do you know how much work we've put into this?" I argued and kept moving. "I refuse to let them down too."

"Bella, sit!" Dylan suddenly shouted.

I wavered for a moment, but then stepped through the kitchen door anyway.

"Now!" he insisted in a dark voice.

And then something strange happened. I lost control of my senses. I felt how my legs started to turn around and walk back toward the boys, but I wasn't making them do it. I couldn't even fight against it. I felt something different roaming around my mind, but I didn't have the energy to fight it either. I was standing next to the table again.

"Sit," Dylan commanded and my body immediately obliged. When I sat down, I returned to normal and it felt like I was waking up or something.

"That wasn't necessary, Dylan," Edward hissed at his brother.

"Of course it was. She wasn't listening, now was she?"

"You're not supposed to use it."

I looked back and forth between the boys, who were glaring at each other.

"I don't think I'll get in trouble for that," Dylan spat.

"How can you be sure? They're keeping tabs on you."

Dylan sighed. "Just thank me for saving your girlfriend from running off on her own."

Then it clicked in my head. I had just experienced Dylan's mind control. I never really thought much about it, but I was a bit surprised to realize how much control he could actually have over someone. But then I thought about something else and frowned in confusion.

"Your shield's not in place," Edward said quietly, answering my thought.

I nodded slowly.

"Listen Bella, I'm sorry. I'm not actually supposed to use my gift, but you kind of didn't give me much of a choice here," Dylan murmured apologetically.

When I gave no reply, Edward sighed. "Bella, none of us will be leaving this house until the opening of the fair," he told me gently as he took both of my hands in his.

"Why not? If I went to the rehearsals, I wouldn't be alone, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Mr. Decour called us this morning and told us not to leave the house before the fair opening. As a matter of fact, he wants us to stay here until he gets back."

"But I can't let the Hydros down too," I said and tears started to fill my eyes.

"Bella, you didn't tell anyone down and you never will. We can call Japree or Bryce for you and tell them you're not feeling well. I'm sure they can arrange to go through your routines tomorrow morning," Dylan said.

"You'd do that for me?" I asked him with a shaky voice.

Dylan smiled gently and nodded before he got up to leave the kitchen. He brushed his hand over my head softly as he passed me, and then he was gone.

"Bella, love, there's no need for you to blame yourself. It's not your fault, it's not Jasper's fault. It's nobody's fault really. We all could have done something differently, and we all feel guilty, but there was no way that we could have known how this would end," Edward quickly started soothing me. He walked around the table and sat in the seat next to me, then pulled me gently onto his lap.

"But maybe I could have—"

"What exactly could you have done that would've prevented any of this? There's nothing that you could have done then, and there's nothing you can do now except follow Mr. Decour's advice."

"But what if something happened to Chris and Alice? They could be dead for all we know!" I cried.

Sadness flickered across Edward's face. "Do you honestly believe they're dead?" he asked in a low, quiet voice.

I thought about it. I'm sure that if Chris had died, I would have felt it and known immediately.

I slowly shook my head.

"See. And as long as you believe that, the rest of us will too. Chris and Alice are going to be back with us soon," he tried to reassure me, but it sounded more as if he was trying to convince himself more than me.

**Alice POV**

"There's no way we're going to be back with the others soon," I whined after Chris' fourth attempt at beaming us out of this place. So far, we'd only managed to land in various places around the astral plane, and by the end of her tries, we were standing in that damned meadow again.

"Gee, thanks for the support," Chris mumbled sarcastically.

"I'm just telling the truth," I said to her. "Why is it that we land in this meadow so much?"

"I don't know. Every time I try to get us to the elementary school, we land here," Chris answered.

"You don't really think that they're still waiting at the school for us?" I asked her in disbelief.

"No, I don't, but no other place works either. I've tried your parents' house, my room, Bella's room, hell, I even tried Jasper's room," she finished exasperatedly.

"We are so going to miss the opening of the fair," I mumbled sadly.

"The fair? We're trapped in some freaky parallel dimension and you're worried about missing some little kids jump around on a stage?"

"They don't just jump around - they sing too. And I've been excited for this ever since I came to this school, and now I'm not even going to be there," I sniffled.

That softened Chris up a bit and she came over to give me a gentle hug. "Don't worry. The first day is only the play, right?" she asked and I nodded. "Well, then we need to make sure that we're back in time for the second day so you won't miss your debut as part of the fair," she said with so much confidence that I had to smile.

"And how do you plan to do that?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll think of something." She started pacing around thoughtfully. That reminded me of Jasper. He was always pacing all over the place when he was thinking really hard about something or worrying. He always worried so much about me that I was pretty sure he'd be close to a heart attack by now.

I sighed. "Too bad we can't just call them."

"Do you even have your phone with you?" Chris asked.

I pulled it out of my pocket. "Always."

Chris glared at me and opened her mouth, probably to yell at me.

"Before you say anything, I already tried, okay?" I continued. "It's not working. But you didn't really think it would, did you?"

Chris' shoulders slumped back down. "I was still hoping."

"Well, we can't call them, that's for sure. Ugh, it won't even let me send a text message," I groaned and threw myself down on the ground. It was scary how comfortable I'd gotten with laying in the dirt. My stomach started to grumble. I groaned again and tried to think of anything other than the dull ache that started forming in my stomach. It wasn't working.

After a while, Chris fell down beside me. "Hungry?" My stomach answered her question causing her to chuckle quietly. "Me too. Never thought the day would come that I'd be willing to eat anything."

"Even human flesh?" I asked with a giggle.

She grimaced. "Okay, well maybe not everything," she murmured. "But if I had to choose between licking peanut butter off the street and kissing Justin Timberlake, I would be licking that street so hard my tongue would bleed."

"That's gross," I told her and then thought about it. "But right now, I'd probably do that too."

She laughed quietly at that. "And if you had to choose between eating a doughnut that fell in the toilet, and taking a hot bubble bath?"

"I would so go for that doughnut," I sighed dreamily as I thought about chocolate-filled doughnuts. I was so entranced by the thought that I completely forgot about the whole toilet thing.

"Now _that_ is gross, Alice," Chris laughed.

"Well I'm sure if you had to choose between eating cheese that Emmett rubbed all over his body after playing sports, and making out with Dylan for an hour, you would so eat the cheese," I said to her in a teasing tone.

Chris didn't answer right away. "Yeah, maybe," she then murmured half-heartedly.

I sat up instantly. "You totally just hesitated," I accused.

"No, I did not," she shot back, looking at me as if I didn't know what I was talking about. What she didn't know was that I had a sixth sense for these sort of things, even without my psychic abilities.

"So you'd rather eat a sweaty Emmett-cheese?" I asked and she flinched. "Ah ha!" I shouted, pointing my finger at her.

"What's that supposed to tell me?" she asked me with an annoyed expression.

"You didn't just choose Dylan over food, you chose him over food in a starvation situation."

"No, I didn't. You're just assuming things so you have something to smile smugly about."

"I'm not smiling smugly."

"Then what's that smile on your face right now?"

"This, my dear," I said, pointing to my own face, "is a knowing smile. Why, might you ask, am I wearing a knowing smile? Simple. This is because I know you lo—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll make sure you never debut at any fair in your entire life," she hissed dangerously. Chris had shot up abruptly and covered my mouth with her hand.

I narrowed my eyes at her and then slipped my tongue out.

"Ew," Alice. That was totally unnecessary," Chris complained and pulled her hand away to wipe it off on her pants.

"Chris and Dylan sitting in a tree," I started singing.

"Seriously, Alice? How childish can you get?" Chris complained.

"Says the one who wouldn't let me say that you lo—"

"That is completely different." Chris had gotten up and actually stomped her foot on the ground.

I fell back, laughing at her.

"I don't see why this is so funny to you."

"I don't think I've ever met anyone who was so against the L word," I giggled.

"I'm not against any L words," Chris objected. "Lamp, light, liar, lift, like, luluhalabulu..."

"Luluhalabulu?" I asked, tears already streaming down my face from all this laughter.

Chris just rolled her eyes.

Slowly I regained my composure and calm down, only letting out the occasional chuckle. "You know what I meant. You can't admit that you love Dylan," I told her then, in a more serious manner.

"That's because I don't," Chris retorted.

"Oh really? And the fact that you've been getting along so well with him ever since you guys started spending quality time together isn't some kind of evidence?"

"No, it's not. First of all, we didn't spend any 'quality time' together, he was teaching me. And secondly, we only got to know each other better, so naturally, we get along."

"Um, yeah, and what about the fact that the reason you even had to take lessons in the first place is always hanging around your neck?"

"It's a nice necklace and I tend to lose necklaces very easily if I don't wear them."

"Then why do you hate his girlfriend so much?"

"She's not his girlfriend," Chris said, a little too harshly, then immediately clapped her hands over her mouth.

I rose my eyebrows at her. "And you know this because...?"

Chris shook her head.

"Oh, come on. You can tell me. Who am I gonna tell? There's a possibility that we'll die here, so we might as well share all of our secrets."

Chris tried to stare me down, but I wouldn't let her. I may be tiny, but that's never stopped me from getting what I want.

After several moments, Chris sighed in surrender and I mentally patted my back for a job well done. "He told me," she said simply, trying to make it sound casual.

"Why'd he tell you, but no one else?"

"He only told me last night and that's only because I—"

"Yes?"

"Nothing," Chris mumbled and looked at the ground.

"Don't you want to tell me?"

"No, I don't."

"Well, you should."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Ugh, fine. He told me because I offered to share my bed with him, even if Heidi would be upset about tha—"

"You what?" I shrieked, a little later than I would have had I not been so shocked.

Chris flinched back.

"You slept in the same bed as him? Details, now, please," I demanded in excitement.

"There's nothing to tell," Chris said with a blush.

"You're blushing and you don't blush unless things are really embarrassing, so you better spill.

Chris shook her head fiercely.

I looked at her in thought and then gasped in shock. "You guys did it, didn't you? Oh my God, you are worse than Rose and Emmett. Not even Jasper and I—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chris screeched.

"I was just saying that not even Jasper and I have had sex, and yet you and Dylan just—"

"I didn't sleep with him," Chris yelled quickly. "I mean, I slept with him, but we didn't have sex. Seriously, Alice, what kind of girl do you think I am? And how come people always ask me if I did it with Dylan?"

"So you and Dylan didn't do it?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

"No, we didn't. God, I do have some common sense," she replied, still blushing hard.

I just nodded.

**Bella POV**

I was sitting in the living room, watching Jasper's sleeping form, when Dylan entered.

"I called Japree. He said that you'll just open up a little later tomorrow so you can go through your routine first," he told me.

I smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem." He patted my head softly.

At that exact moment, I felt a jolt of embarrassment, excitement, and longing go through me as images flashed through my mind. I grabbed Dylan's hand and pulled him close without really wanting to. I just had this incredible need to be close to him, to touch him, to kiss him. I tried to fight it, but it was too strong.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Dylan asked when I slowly moved my face to be in front of his.

"I don't know," I whispered. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper sitting up. His eyes went to us instantly and widened.

"Hey guys, is Jasper up yet?" I heard Edward's voice.

My face had been inching closer to Dylan's, who seemed to be trying to get out of my range.

"What's going on here?" I heard Edward ask, his voice much closer this time. That was all I needed.

In an instant, I'd let go of Dylan and rushed to Edward's side. The moment I stopped touching Dylan, that desire I felt died down a bit.

Edward looked back and forth between me and Dylan. "Would someone mind explaining?" he asked, glaring at Dylan now.

"I think Bella has just developed some really strong feelings for Dylan," Jasper threw in as he looked at all of us.

I looked at Edward and saw his beautiful emerald eyes on me, not looking very happy. And that's when I returned fully to my emotional world.

"Chris," I whispered in understanding and then a bit louder, I said, "Chris. That was Chris!" I started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Chris?" the boys asked at once, but then understanding dawned on Dylan's face, though he still looked a little confused.

"You mean Chris just pulled Bella into her mind?" Edward asked Dylan in reply to his thoughts.

"Seems like it," he replied with a light shrug. "Although Chris was a lot more out of it when it happened to her."

"That's because I wasn't really in her mind, I was just...possessed by her emotions," I explained, my heart pumping furiously in my chest. I tried to reach back through the bond, but it was just as numb as before.

"Why in the world would Chris be thinking of Dylan right now, let alone lusting after him and feeling embarrassed at the same time?" Jasper asked, sounding highly confused.

"She's with Alice," Edward and Dylan answered together, their voices making it sound like the explanation for everything.

Jasper accepted that answer with a nod.

"Well did you see where they are?" Edward asked me.

I shook my head.

"It must be pretty far if the bond stopped working properly," mumbled Jasper.

"But it seems like, if the emotions are strong enough, they can make it through," Dylan added, a thoughtful and slightly joyful expression on his face. "You and Edward!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"What about us?" I asked.

Dylan rolled his eyes as if I was missing something obvious. "She gets pulled into your mind every time you guys make out, so maybe you should just—"

"What for? So Chris can watch?" Edward asked.

"Maybe it'll help create a connection."

I rose my eyebrows at that. It was Jasper who came up with a genius idea.

"You can just use those emotions, pull her into your mind, and then ask her where she is. Maybe she'll be able to answer."

I thought about that.

"It's worth a try," Edward said with a shrug and looked at me.

I turned to see Dylan and Jasper looking expectantly at me as well. "You don't honestly think we'll do it here?" I asked them.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Then get upstairs and start already."

"I can't just feel all..." I dug through my mind for the right word.

"Excited? Turned on?" Dylan offered.

"Not really what I was going to say."

"Look Bella, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. We could probably find some oth—" Edward started, but Jasper interrupted him.

"And what other way is there? Let Bella kiss Dylan? That might have worked before the connection was lost."

Oh God, I couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to kiss Dylan. Sure, I'd just seen a few of Chris' memories, but that wasn't like actually doing it.

"Seriously Edward, just go upstairs and make sure you excite the girl," Dylan uttered bluntly.

Well, that was nicely said.

"Do you hear yourself talk? I swear someti—"

"Let's just go," I sighed, cutting Edward off and dragging him along with me.

I think that may have been the weirdest conversation of my life.

**Chris POV**

That had been the weirdest conversation of my life.

Alice had kept on demanding details of everything I've ever done with Dylan, which actually wasn't much, but she wanted to know anyway.

Finally, the little evil pixie had fallen asleep again, allowing me to lean back and relax myself.

As I was staring off into space, I started to feel a tingle on my left earlobe that slowly began to creep down my neck.

My breathing picked up when his hands travelled down my body. He was very gentle, and I enjoyed the feeling, but something was nagging at the back of my mind.

_Chris, can you hear me?_

The mention of my name yanked me back into my own mind. I blinked and was back with my thoughts. I wasn't sure if I should be disturbed or honoured that Bella was thinking of me while making out with Edward.

Then I remembered her exact thought.

Did they do that on purpose? But how would she know that I'd be able to hear? Well, I guess she didn't know, but she assumed it anyway. And of course, the most important question of all: why was it working now and not when I wanted it to?

I sighed and tried to concentrate on the bond again. If this was all I got, I might as well get used to it. I closed my eyes and Edward's lips were immediately on mine.

"I don't think it's working," I whispered breathlessly when we broke the kiss.

"Are you telling me that Chris' feelings for my brothers are stronger than yours for me? And here I thought you loved me," he pouted teasingly.

"What? No...I mean, I do, honestly," I sighed. "But I can't hear anything from her."

Edward sat up thoughtfully. "Maybe it's just working one way. You didn't get to see where she was, right? So maybe she's able to hear, see, or whatever it is, but can't answer," he said after a few minutes of thinking.

And before anything else could happen, I was back in my mind.

I frowned. That hadn't been very helpful. Or was it?

I went through their conversation again and didn't notice that Alice had woken up until she stood right in front of me.

She was waving her little hand in my face. "Hey, what's got you thinking so hard?" she asked me.

I stared at her for a while, still deep in thought.

"Hello?" Alice called, dragging out the word.

"What?" I sighed in response.

"You were just staring into space and I wondered why."

"Oh."

"That is not the answer I was looking for. Were you daydreaming about Dylan?"

"No, I wasn't," I told her in a surprisingly calm voice. "I was just thinking about what Edward said."

"Huh?" Alice looked at me in confusion. I quickly filled her in on what had happened and she started vibrating in excitement. "We're going to be saved soon," she sang.

"Um...no. If you would have listened more carefully, then you would have noticed that the others don't have a clue where we are. Which isn't really much of a surprise."

"Yes, but you can tell Bella."

"No, I can't. I can't use the bond, it's just as numb as before. It was only working when the two lovebirds were smooching, and that wasn't exactly helpful because I can't put any thoughts in Bella's mind when I'm surrounded by her thoughts."

"But I thought they said you made some kind of connection earlier," Alice stated, pouting.

"Yeah, but I don't know when that should have been."

"Great, so we're not really a step closer to freedom," Alice stopped smiling and vibrating like a wild cellphone.

"Not exactly. I can't think of a way to let them know where we are. There should really be something like magic text messaging."

"Oh there is. Edward and Dylan can do that, I think Emmett too. You just write a message—"

"Alice," I cut her off. "I don't want to know the workings of it. Obviously neither of us can do it, so that's not even an option."

"Well, the only thing I can do is instant mail, but that is hardly involved with any skill. And we don't have a mailbox for that, so it's also not an option. I can't think of any other way to leave a message, though."

I started chewing on the inside of my cheeks, once again deep in thought. There really should be a way to get a message to them. Something, no matter how little.

And then I smacked myself in the forehead so hard that I got a headache. How could I have forgotten?

"Jesus, I am such an idiot," I mumbled harshly to myself.

"I agree with you on that, but why now?" Alice asked me.

I glared at her for a second before answering. "Dylan said the astral plane and the normal world are connected and that if you leave a message in a particular place here, it would be seen in the normal world in the exact same spot."

"Ah, ghost writing," Alice said and nodded her head knowingly.

"You knew about that and didn't say anything?"

"Well it's not like I think about it everyday, and it's not as easy as Dylan made it sound for you. You can't just take a pen and scribble onto a surface."

"Yeah, I know, it has to be at the exact same spot as you want it to be in the no—"

"No, I heard Daddy talking about it once. It's a little more complex than that. First of all, it's wand writing that you need to use as a living person. And secondly, you don't actually write it here, you have to make it appear where you want it to, and the message won't last for hours, so the timing has to be pretty much perfect."

"Would you mind explaining what exactly it is you're talking about?"

"Wand writing is what Edward did the day he couldn't speak. You know, writing in the air with the wand. And the whole appearing part would be kind of similar to beaming. You have to concentrate on the place you want the message to appear, and not just write it in thin air in front of you."

"Okay, I guess we could try it. We can do that, right?"

"Um, well, if you would have let me finish earlier, you would know by now that the principle is exactly the same," Alice shouted at me.

I flinched slightly. "So?"

"So as I just pointed out earlier, only the older boys are capable of using it, simply because they've already learned it, but we're not even quite done adjusting to our wands. The whole first year is about getting used to the wand. We'll learn the whole cool stuff next year."

"Oh come on, Alice. The thing can't be that hard," I said.

"No, according to the boys, it's not hard at all, but we still don't know how to do it."

"But we can try," I said to her with hopeful eyes.

Alice sighed before pulling her wand out of her sleeve.

"How in the world do you all do that? There's no way you can tell me you also know how the spell that Edward uses to take his wand out of his sleeve works."

"I don't. I have a strap for it on my arm. You should get one too — putting it in your pocket isn't the safest thing to do. It might break and I'm sure you're the last person who should break a wand."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Okay, so what do we do?"

"Do you know where they are?"

"No, it didn't look familiar to me."

"Oh great, how are we supposed to get a message to them then? Wait, do you know what time it is?"

"No, just that it's light outside."

"Helpful, Chris, very helpful," Alice gave me a sarcastic look before she sighed.

I shrugged. I didn't know what she expected from me. Did I look like someone that sits behind an information desk all day?

**Bella POV**

I seriously didn't know what they expected from me. Did I honestly look like someone at an information desk? I sighed while Dylan, Jasper, Emmett, and Rose looked at me in disappointment. I nearly rolled my eyes but somehow refrained.

"So we'll just have to wait until Chris starts missing Dylan again?" Rose asked.

"Apparently," sighed Jasper.

The way Rosalie just phrased it made me feel a little sad. Why did Chris miss Dylan and not me?

"Why does she miss Dylan and not Bella? I thought the twins were like 'forever together', and Chris and Dylan more like 'silence, I'll kill you'," Emmett said, voicing my thoughts. Or at least close enough to them.

"She wasn't missing Dylan. Not exactly," Jasper replied. "I only felt attraction, longing...that type of thing."

"Maybe it didn't even have anything to do with Dylan," Rose suggested.

"She was remembering him, that's why the emotions," I explained with a sigh.

"Do we even want to know what she remembered?" Emmett asked, looking at Dylan while speaking.

"No, you don't," he answered.

Emmett opened his big mouth once more, but Edward interrupted him.

"Maybe we should go to the fair opening play. I'm sure Mom will be worried and disappointed if we don't show up."

"Oh shit," Rose suddenly cursed.

"What?" I asked, immediately alert.

"I totally forgot that the Medeis mirror is still in my room and I couldn't check the mail," she murmured.

I didn't know what she was talking about, but Jasper seemed to have understood because he started immediately cursing under his breath too.

"Care to share?" I asked them.

"Our mom," they replied in unison.

"Good luck with that," Edward said with a small smirk on his face.

"Oh, you said she would be here for the fair, right?" I asked the two of them. They just nodded. "And what does that have to do with a mirror?"

"Not just any mirror. A Medeis mirror," Rose said as an explanation, though it didn't explain anything to me.

I turned to Edward for help and he said, "It's a communication mirror. Witches don't actually use cellphones."

"But you guys do," I pointed out.

"Alice," was the reply that rang throughout the room before we all fell silent.

"But Dylan, didn't you call Japree earlier?" I asked in an attempt to occupy my mind with something else.

"Not really. I just said calling because that's the regular term used. Our terms are highly influenced by human terms. But I didn't actually call him using a telephone him," Dylan said.

My brows furrowed in confusion. "What did you do then?"

Dylan pulled out his wand and walked out of the room.

I looked at Edward with raised eyebrows, but his expression didn't give anything away. Suddenly I felt a little tingle on my leg. I pulled out my wand and saw it glow for a brief second. "What is that supposed to tell me?" I asked.

Dylan appeared beside me then. "Tap it to your ear," he instructed. I quirked an eyebrow, but followed his instruction anyway. "And that is how Wand Calling works," I heard Dylan's voice in my ear.

"Wand Calling?"

"Yeah, it's a special spell. You'll learn it next year."

"What about people who can't use this spell? What do they do?"

"There are more than enough ways. Medeis mirrors is one way, but an expensive one."

I nodded slowly, unsure if I really understood what Dylan was telling me.

"Emmett, shouldn't your parents be here as well?" Edward asked.

Emmett shook his head. "No, they arrive in the middle of the night."

"Okay guys, I really think we should get moving. The play starts in 15 minutes," Dylan urged.

"Do I look like I'm dressed properly?" Rose screeched rhetorically. She was right. We were all still wearing the same black clothes we had on yesterday.

"I think we all need to change," I mumbled.

"Yes, we do," Jasper agreed.

Edward and Dylan sighed and drew their wands.

"What do you want to wear, Rose?" Edward asked her in a bored tone.

"Aside from fresh underwear?" she asked him with narrowed eyes.

Edward flinched. "Emmett, please tell me you know how to do a summoning charm," Edward pleaded.

"No, I don't," Emmett murmured apologetically.

"Dylan, don't you want to do it?" Edward asked hopefully.

"And deny you the chance to summon Rose's underwear? No Way! But I could help Bel—"

"Girls, follow me," Edward practically growled as he stalked out of the room. We quickly followed him to the bedroom that I'd woken up in. "Rose, what do you want to wear?" Edward sounded tired and I started to worry about that.

"I have this red dress that my mom always wants me to wear with matching undergarments," she mused.

"Do you know exactly where it is?"

"At the top of my closet in a purple box," she answered. "I've never worn it."

Edward nodded and mumbled something that sounded like "Exsto." A few seconds later, a dusty purple box landed on Rosalie's lap. She grimaced when she opened it, but thanked Edward anyway before she moved out to go change in the bathroom.

"What do you want to wear, Bella?" he asked me when we were alone.

"I don't know. Can't I just wear jeans and a sweater?"

"Yes, you can," Edward answered with a smile and flicked his wand, saying the same word as before.

A pair of dark jeans, a long blue sweater that could pass as a very short dress, along with underwear landed in my lap. I blushed when I saw the black lace bra and panties. Chris had gotten me this set for our last birthday, saying that, "Black is the color you wear when you want to have sex." Of course she had been kidding, but the thought still made my cheeks red. But right now, I blushed because Edward apparently knew what kind of underwear I owned.

"Before you even ask, I only summoned the things that were lying on top. I know where you put the things in your closet. The only thing I purposely chose was the sweater. You put it away when you got it, but never wore it."

I just nodded and Edward sent me a weak grin before he left me to get dressed.

It didn't take me long to get changed, and when I entered the living room downstairs, I saw that everybody aside from Jasper was already there.

"Where's Jasper?" I asked.

"Here," his voice answered from behind me as he strode into the room.

"Well, then I guess we're ready to go and only 10 minutes late," Emmett said.

"Better late than never," murmured Rose.

We all moved out of the house and into the deserted streets of campus.

"Should we really be going outside now?" I asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Everything was just so quiet and empty.

"No need to worry," Emmett reassured me. "Everyone is probably already in the auditorium of the elementary school."

In that moment, I heard the faint sound of music streaming from the direction of the school. It all reminded me too much of last night and I fought back tears when the thought that Chris and Alice never managed to appear at the school last night came to my mind. Or maybe they did, but they were just a little late and got caught. What if Irina and the others took them away and kept them in some secret place? We would never be able to find them.

A soothing hand touched my shoulder. "Calm down, Bella," Jasper whispered.

The others were already a couple of steps ahead, so Jasper was the only one who'd noticed my breathing spike up. That, and he probably felt the panic rising in me.

"Jasper, how can you be so calm right now?" I asked him. His behaviour today was a stark contrast to last night.

"I'm not," he replied simply. "I can feel everybody's pain, anger, and guilt. Emmett and Rose seem to be the most collected, but they aren't. Rose is close to breaking down any second, and I'm sure that the meeting with our mother will not be helpful whatsoever. Emmett is angry and feeling very aggressive, but he's trying to stay calm for Rose's sake. Dylan and Edward are feeling about the same amount of grief as you are, and to top it all off, I have to deal with my own emotions."

I inspected Jasper more closely. His usually clear bright blue eyes were now dull and seemed almost completely lifeless. He had light circles under his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were turned down into a slight frown. I wonder how I hadn't noticed this before.

"You miss her," I noted. It was obvious, of course, but now I could see just how much he truly missed Alice. How much she was really his life.

Jasper smiled weakly at me, but it looked more like a grimace. "I worry about Chris as well," he murmured quietly. "Wherever they are, I hope they somehow manage to fend for themselves."

"With Alice's determination and Chris'..." I trailed off, not having a word to accurately describe my twin.

"Boldness? Fight spirit? Abrasiveness?" Jasper suggested.

I giggled quietly. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I don't think there's even much of a possibility that anything could harm the pair of them," I said, trying to convince both Jasper and myself.

**Alice POV**

"This is so going to harm us!" I screeched as the giant wolf crept closer to us.

We'd been trying to write a message to the others for the last forty minutes. The big tree that we had been constantly leaning against was apparently the wall right beside the entrance of the school. At least according to Chris it was. Every time she tried to beam in front of the school, this is where she landed, so she had to be right. So far, we'd only managed to make the message appear on the tree in front of us. The thing was, if it worked, we wouldn't be able to see it. So while we were busily trying to contact our friends and family, this wolf had just appeared and started slowly approaching us.

"Why are there wolves on the damn astral plane?" Chris asked.

"We are on the astral plane — halfway in the world of the dead, and one of the most spiritual places," I answered.

"What does that even mean?"

We were carefully trying to back away without alarming the wolf.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Do I look like a freaking expert to you?"

"Whatever! Just try to think of how we're going to get rid of this thing," she shrieked back at me.

"Is crying an option?" I inquired a moment before my back hit the tree.

"Sounds appealing," Chris agreed.

"What? You're supposed to shoot it with your fire thingy!" I yelled at her.

"The wolf startled me, okay? And it stares so intently, plus I don't like dogs—"

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't work with fear."

"Oh great. We're going to die without even saying goodbye to our loved ones."

"Shut up. I'm trying, okay?" Chris snapped, squeezing her eyes shut. In that exact moment, the wolf disappeared.

"Wow. Whatever you did, it was amazing," I complimented her and took a deep breath as I relaxed my stiff posture, sagging a little against the tree.

"What? I didn't want to make it disappear, I was just thinking about pizza."

"Why in the world were you thinking about pizza?" I asked her with disbelief coloring my voice.

"We were about to die and I'm hungry," she tried to defend herself.

I only shook my head at her. "Well then I guess it went back to where it came from."

"Hopefully."

"Let's continue trying to contact the world of the living," I suggested and raised my wand.

Chris sighed.

"What kind of attitude is that?"

"My kind."

"Well it's not helping us any, so you better start being more optimistic and enthusiastic."

"Yay," she mumbled with false enthusiasm. "God, if Bella hadn't opened that letter, we wouldn't be in this situation right now," she complained before getting back to work.

**Bella POV**

"If I hadn't opened that letter, we wouldn't be in this situation right now," I sighed while walking with Jasper, trailing a little behind the others. I'd hooked my arm through his, feeling completely calm.

"Yes, but then we wouldn't have met you," Jasper said with the first real smile on his face since yesterday.

"That's not really a bad thing considering you wouldn't even know we existed then."

"True, but still, if Alice hadn't had that vision about all of us being friends, then we wouldn't even be the same group we are now."

"What does that mean?"

"Before you and your sister came around, we weren't as tightly knit as we are now. I mean, we were a clique to an extent, but we never spent much time with each other. Especially Edward and Dylan. At first they only stuck around because they wanted to see the regular borns, and then you guys got interesting and that was the moment we all were sort of united together."

"I'm glad we did that, I think," I replied slowly, though I was pretty sure Chris and I hadn't influenced the group _that_ much.

When all of us stood in front of the school building, we came to a stop and looked around a little. It was obvious that we all hoped to find some sort of sign of Alice and Chris' presence.

"Maybe we should just get inside," Rose murmured and gestured toward the entrance. The music had died down and was now replaced by loud conversation.

"Since when is there graffiti on the wall?" Jasper asked suddenly. We all followed his line of sight and saw that someone had scribbled something onto the wall there.

"It's a school. I'm surprised that I didn't find gums under our desks yet."

"That's because we can't stick any gum under there. We also can't draw on the walls, unless we use our wands, but those things vani—" Jasper replied, but stopped when the words actually did disappear.

"And there you have it," Emmett said.

Edward sighed. "Let's just go inside." We all agreed and moved to enter the building.

"Is it normal if the writing just reappears?" Rose asked. She'd been staring at the wall the whole time.

"Not really," Edward answered slowly. We shuffled back toward the wall, this time to get a closer look and inspect the words written there.

_This sucks! No one is going to read this anyway...if it even appears._

The words vanished and were soon replaced by new ones. The writing this time was a little different than the one before.

_What we mean is: help!_

Those words disappeared quickly as well.

_It was dark in a dark dark night, everything was dark..._

_Stop that!_

_You do realize you didn't have to write that, right?_

_Help! I'm stuck in a parallel universe with an idiot!_

_What she means is: please help the poor girl here next to me because I'm an annoying little..._

The words stopped only to be replaced by scribbles.

"Why does this sound an awful lot like two people we know?" Emmett asked slowly.

"Since when are they able to send messages?" Rose asked.

"And why there?" Edward added. "They could have sent them anywhere."

Dylan let out a sound of realization. "No, they couldn't have. It's not messaging, it's Ghost Writing!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"What does that mean?" I asked in confusion.

"Messaging is kind of similar to Wand Calling. I can send it precisely to the person I want to. Ghost Writing kind of works the same way, but it's writing a message from the astral plane to the living world. The connection between the two worlds is too weak to allow actual messaging, therefore you have to use t—"

"Enough with the science," Emmett barged in.

"So this means Alice and Chris are on the astral plane?" Jasper asked.

_Guys, hurry up! The astral plane sucks ass and we're hungry!_

"I guess that answers the question," Edward mumbled.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Jasper barked. "Dylan, get them out of there!"

Dylan looked at him with a frown. "I can't just beam there."

"Concentrate."

He let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

Just then, the door to the building opened and Esme stepped out. "Oh, there you are. I was so worried about you. Come on in, you've already missed too much of the play," she gushed as soon as she spotted our group.

"Um, Mom...we're kind of busy right now," Dylan said.

"No, you are not. The only thing you have to do is get inside and watch. Don't you want to see what I did with the little ones?"

"Of course we do, but—"

"No buts. Now get in," Esme instructed strictly and ushered all of us inside the school. She led us upstairs to the auditorium. On our way, we looked expectantly at Dylan.

"I need a place to concentrate," Dylan whispered.

"Go to the bathroom," suggested Rose.

Esme was already by the door to the auditorium, giving us a look. "Come on now, we don't have all day," she urged.

We each cast another urging look at Dylan.

"Hey Mom, is it okay if I go to the bathroom real quick?" Dylan asked.

I smacked myself on the forehead. Why did he have to ask?

"I think you can wait a little longer. The break will be coming up soon," she said and started pushing us inside.

Aside from the people on stage, the packed room was quiet. Esme tapped her wand on the wall next to the door and a moment later, a balcony came down slowly like a lift. Carlisle was already seated there and smiled at his wife as she gestured for us to take our seats.

"I'll be back soon," Dylan said and turned for the door.

"Dylan Cullen, I know you and I know you don't have to go to the bathroom, so whatever it is you want to do, it's going to have to wait," Esme scolded and steered him back. She pushed Dylan into the seat behind me and then took her own seat next to Carlisle. She mumbled something and the balcony drove back up to where it was before, enabling us to see the stage.

I didn't pay any attention to the kids jumping around in their cute little costumes. Instead, I turned around to glare at Dylan. In fact, I wasn't the only one. We all turned to look at him with unhappy expressions.

"What?"

"You could have done a better job than that," Edward hissed quietly.

Dylan grimaced.

"Beam out now," I told him urgently.

"I can't," he replied.

"Just concentrate, dammit," Rose snapped.

"I can't," Dylan repeated. "Mom cut me off."

Groaning, we all hung our heads in defeat.

It was going to take forever for us to save our friends.

**Alice POV**

"It's going to take forever for them to come and save us," Chris complained and sunk down to the ground.

"Again with the negative attitude," I sighed and sat down next to her.

"Oh, well I'm sorry for being realistic."

"You should be."

We sat in silence, staring blankly ahead. After a while, I heard Chris' breathing deepen. I looked at her and saw that she had fallen asleep. I smiled fondly. It was about time that she slept.

**Bella POV**

It was about time that he slept. We were watching the second half of the play and Edward had just fallen asleep by my side. His head was leaning against my shoulder and he was snoring quietly. I looked at him with a small smile on my face, then turned my attention back to the kids on stage.

The story was something about a leo-bear that was being bullied by the other animals in the jungle because he was half-bear and half-leopard. And even though the other animals weren't nice to him, he was trying to save them from the evil witch. I wasn't exactly sure if I should be watching this, because it seemed like even a leo-bear could save someone from an evil witch.

At the end of the play, Edward was awoken by the resounding applause.

"Is it over?" he slurred, looking up at me through sleepy eyes.

"Yes."

He sat up and joined in on the applause.

Esme had disappeared from where we sat, only to make her way onto the stage to bow and accept a pretty bouquet of assorted flowers. "I thank all of you for coming here tonight and I wish you all a wonderful time at this year's fair. I'm sure the following week will be entertaining for all of us," she spoke with a beautiful smile on her face and received even more applause.

When we were all standing outside with hundreds of people walking passed us, Esme asked, "So how did you like the play?"

"It was wonderful, darling," Carlisle complimented, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You know, I thought I was mistaken earlier, but where are Alice and Chris?" Esme asked.

"Oh they just went to the bathroom before you came out here," Rose answered immediately.

"But I don't remember seeing them with you before," Esme said with a confused expression.

"Mom, should we be worried about you?" Edward asked in a serious tone. "I think you're growing old. Maybe you need glasses."

Esme narrowed her eyes at him and smacked him lightly. "I am not old – I'm in my best years, thank you very much," she huffed and then hugged Carlisle tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. It was a very Alice-like thing to do.

Thinking of Alice brought my attention back to Dylan, who was just standing there, looking at his mother.

"Mom, how long until I can use my power again?" he asked.

She looked up. "About two more hours," she answered lightly.

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by a female voice I'd never heard before.

"Rosalie! Jasper! Where have you been all this time? I've been trying to get in touch with you for hours!" the voice belonged to a beautiful blond woman who looked like an older replica of Rose. She was wearing some expensive-looking designer clothes and was strutting toward us.

Neither Jasper nor Rosalie looked too impressed to see their mother.

"Well guys, looks like we're off," Rose said to us and then dragged Jasper off to meet their mother, who immediately started gushing on and on about the dress Rose was wearing.

All I could do was quirk an eyebrow at that.

"Their mother isn't the most pleasant person to be around," Edward murmured quietly to me.

"Why not?"

"Well for one, look at her. She's stunningly beautiful and she knows it. She's very vain and that makes her difficult enough," he explained. "But to make it even worse, she sees other people's insecurities and fears and that, combined with her own arrogance, is definitely not a good thing."

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Emmett asked.

"Um...shouldn't we be one group? I mean, Rose and Jazz can't just walk back to the house on their own, right?" I asked the three remaining boys.

"Mr. Decour only said that we shouldn't be walking around alone," Dylan said slowly.

I just looked at him.

"Bella, seriously. Nobody wants to spend the day with Ms. Hale," said Emmett.

"Ms. Hale?"

"Jasper and Rosalie's parents never got married," Edward explained.

I nodded in understanding. "Well, since I've never had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Hale. I think I should get to know her. Don't you agree?" I asked the boys.

They all looked at me as if I'd gone completely insane.

"Rose, wait for us!" I called to the Hale family as they started walking the other way. They turn when I called, though, and I quickly ran up to join them. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting you, Ms. Hale," I said politely and held my hand out to her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Isabella Swan. I'm ne–"

"_You_ are one of the regular borns?" she asked in disbelief, looking me up and down.

"Yes."

Ms. Hale kept staring at me while Rose and Jasper looked nervously between me and her. "Well, you're not as bad as I imagined you to be. But with that low self-esteem, you are not going to go very far, child."

"Mo–" Rose started, but Ms. Hale made a simple move with her hand to shut her up.

"I suppose you'll be joining us," Ms. Hale said, not sounding entirely happy about that. She wasn't looking at me, though, but at the boys who were suddenly standing behind me.

"We haven't had the chance to do so in a long time," Edward answered.

Ms. Hale sent him a slight smile and then motioned for all of us to follow her.

I don't even know why I was so surprised to see that there was a hotel on campus. As a matter of fact, there was a whole street filled with hotels. The one she led us to was at the end of the street. It was a little smaller than the others, but looked so much more expensive.

And so we ended up spending the evening with the Hales and I discovered that Ms. Hale wasn't exactly a mean person to be around, just unpleasant. It was as if she were judging everything we did, and inspecting our behaviours closely.

"I presume Isabella is your girlfriend," she said to Edward at some point in the middle of a conversation.

"Um...yes," Edward replied, sounding a little confused because we hadn't said anything along those lines.

Ms. Hale only nodded then proceeded to tell us something about her last job.

I really wasn't sure how to classify her. She seemed to be listening intently to everything that Jasper and Rosalie told her, like a mother should, but afterwards, she would tell them what they could have done better, though she didn't sound displeased, per se.

She was also telling us a lot about her job and what she'd done over the last few months. When she started describing things she particularly liked, she became a little more animated, but still, she maintained this classy aura that she had around her. She also seemed to be a little harsh at times. It was clear that she wasn't one to beat around the bush – she was a straight-forward person. That was one of the things she had in common with Rose, although Rose wasn't quite as bad.

Ms. Hale didn't seem to be a very considerate person either, and I noticed soon that she liked to surround herself with things and people that she considered to be beautiful. I understood why the boys found her so unpleasant, but I thought it could be a lot worse. So Ms. Hale was more than just a little superficial. Not exactly the best, but better than her being a complete bitch. I also noticed that, even though Rose and Jasper didn't seem to be too fond of spending much time with her, they were still rather content with her presence. I guess the only thing that bothered them about their mother was that she was a little strenuous.

After exactly two hours, Ms. Hale dismissed us.

"Dylan," she called before we left.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Please do your best to find the two girls. I don't want my little boy to turn into a puddle of misery," she said softly.

Dylan frowned for a brief second but then nodded.

"How did she know about that?" I asked on our way back to Mr. Decour's house.

"Bella, I told you her ability," said Edward.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

**Chris POV**

The rumbling of my stomach woke me up.

"Hungry," I whined as if my stomach hadn't gotten the point across.

"Do you think hunger can make us hallucinate?" Alice asked me.

"We'll see soon enough."

"Who do you think will go crazy first?"

"Aren't you already crazy by nature?" I asked weakly.

Alice glared at me.

"What? I thought it was funny." I sighed when she said nothing in return. "Whoever goes crazy first will tell the other one, just for safety precautions, okay? I think it'd be fair for you to know that I'm planning on eating you before I actually do it."

"Would you seriously eat me?" Alice asked with wide eyes.

"You're already starting to look mighty tasty to me," I told her with a grin.

Alice flinched back from me, causing me to laugh loudly. "Chris, this is not funny. Instead of trying to be a comedian, you should try getting us out of here again," she complained.

I sighed and got to my feet. I didn't tell her that I was starting to feel really weak. I'd never used to the stone this much, so I never noticed that it sucked energy from me when it reloaded. Also, the whole messaging thing had been tiring and all that combined with my hunger wasn't motivating at all. "Let's go," I mumbled and slung my arms around Alice.

The outcome of this beaming session wasn't much different than the others. I beamed us into the white emptiness once again, made us appear on this endless road, and even managed to get us in the middle of a ghost meeting. They didn't seem to notice us, but the coldness around them was enough to get us out of there fast.

The only problem was that I'd managed to drain the stone once again.

"Chris, let's get out of here," Alice whispered.

"Can't," I whispered back.

"What do you mean you can't?" This time, she screeched loudly which was enough to draw the attention of the ghosts to us.

"Humans," one of them breathed.

I shuddered. I'd never heard a ghost speak before. They all looked like normal people, only transparent.

"What are two humans doing here?" another of them asked as they all began to circle us.

"We could take their bodies," another whispered.

"And rejoin the living," added a different one.

I narrowed my eyes at them, trying better to see. Only now I realized that they didn't look like regular people. They were all damaged in some way. A knife in the back, an axe in the head...things like that. It was creepy.

Next to me, Alice whimpered as a young woman reached for her. Judging by the rope around her neck, I would say that she'd been hanged.

"You are a pretty one," she murmured to Alice, looking at her with something like fascination in her lifeless eyes. "Don't be scared, I only want your body." She moved even closer to Alice.

I concentrated the best I could and fired at her.

When all the fireball did was go straight through her, she laughed bitterly. "Trying to kill a dead person, are we?" she sneered at me. "Good luck with that." Now she was no longer approaching Alice.

I slowly started to back away, and then saw how Alice had disappeared. I thought I saw a shadow next to her, but I couldn't be sure. The ghost woman in front of me reached her hand out toward my chest as if she were aiming for my heart. I held my breath.

Suddenly a set of strong arms wrapped around me and I was pulled away by a familiar force.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Yay! Next chapter will be the one I have been waiting for the whole time :D:D**

**So, I really don't have much to say right now, except REVIEW PEOPLE! We're almost there! 100 reviews :D I could be mean and say, I will not update until I got 110 reviews and I might actually do that, but maybe just maybe ( most likely) I will update sooner, simply because I can't help myself.**

**Okay, so here is something to think about:**

_**The statement below is true**_

**_The statement above is false_**

**_I managed to think about 90 minutes about this and I explained my thoughts to a friend. I love these kind fo things :D_**


	19. Elegant Like the Everlasting Ice

_**A/N:**_** Err... sorry for the long wait -.-' hehehhe I meant to update a lot earlier, but I got stuck every now and then and distracted and there is a 9 hour time differnce between me and my beta, who has once again done a great job ( lot's of love _You And Me Up In A Tree_) Despite teh fact that I'm not always capable of updating fast you guys took my totally empty threat seriously and reviewed like crazy, so that eventually we made it to 110 yay [insert cheering here] **

**Well now let's put the party hats and the confetti aside, because I gotta say, I probably made a mistake when I calculated how many chapters will be left. If I'm not changing my mond once again there should be... 3 or 4 more and then it'll be over :D Well, this part at least... **

**Okay, that's all I have to say right now, just go on and read I'll continue at the bottom**

* * *

**Bella POV**

"Bella, don't worry so much," Edward soothed as he pulled me onto his lap. "I'm sure Dylan will be back soon."

"You already said that half an hour ago," I sighed as I leaned back against his chest.

"And I'm going to say the same thing again in another thirty minutes," he murmured softly.

"Could Dylan get stuck there too?" Emmett asked.

Edward sighed. "It's possible, but I don't think he will."

"So much faith in an idiot," Rose mumbled. Edward only glared at her in return, which she simply shrugged off.

Suddenly Jasper bolted straight up in the same moment we heard a crash in the kitchen. We all jumped up immediately to see what happen. When we stormed into the kitchen, we saw Dylan and Alice on the table. While Dylan was groaning in pain, Alice happily skipped off straight into Jasper's waiting arms. It was so cute, it almost distracted me. Almost.

"Dylan, where is Chris?" I asked sharply.

Alice stopped kissing Jasper's nose and turned with a worried expression. "She's still there," she whispered with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm on it," Dylan moaned when he moved. He must have hurt himself when he landed on the table.

"Hurry up, she's in danger," Alice urged, but before she was even finished speaking, Dylan had already vanished. We all turned to her for a moment. "Didn't you guys miss me?" she asked with a pout.

Before any of us could react, Edward dashed over to her and hugged her fiercely. That was when all of us became a flurry of people as we stormed over to Alice and threw ourselves at her. In the middle of our group hug, we heard yet another crash sound, this time from the corridor.

"What's wrong with Dylan?" Emmett asked when we all moved to see what he'd done now.

Dylan and Chris were lying on the floor and had knocked over the little glass stand next to them.

"Get off of me," Chris griped and attempted to push Dylan off of her body. He didn't budge. "Come on, you're heavy," she whined.

Dylan only grunted in response before slowly rolling to the side.

Chris coughed and then sat up, throwing a dark look in Dylan's direction.

Without really thinking about it, I ran over to her and threw my arms tightly around her.

"Bella, I need to breathe," Chris gasped out after a while.

I let her go. "Sorry," I mumbled with a sheepish smile.

She grinned back at me.

"Christabel Swan, how dare you scare all of us like that? I could have cared less if you'd disappeared on your own, but you took our cute little Alice with you," Rose yelled and hit Chris on the head.

"Rose," Emmett tried to interfere, but his girlfriend just continued on.

"I was worried sick and my poor brother had to stand the misery from all of us. Do you kno–"

"Rose, if you wanna hug me and tell me how much you missed me, just do it," Chris interrupted her with a sigh.

Rose looked at her with a surprised expression before she hit her on the head again. "Idiot," she hissed and then pulled my sister in for a tight embrace.

I shook my head at the two of them. Until now, I'd never even noticed what a weird friendship those two had.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Alice whispered from beside me.

I smiled and put my arm around her shoulder. "So how was being all alone with Chris?" I asked her lightly.

"It was aw—"

"Guys, did anyone notice that Dylan still hasn't moved?" Emmett asked us. We all turned our attention to Dylan, who was still laying on the floor, not having moved an inch.

"Is he still alive?" Alice asked quietly.

"Yes, he is," Jasper replied, "He's just exhausted."

"Since when does beaming drain him this much?" I asked.

"He was jumping around in different dimensions, so I guess this is quite a normal occurrence," answered Edward.

"I wasn't just jumping back and forth, I also had to find them there," Dylan grunted and slowly sat up, rubbing his face with his hands.

"I thought they were at the elementary school," Rose said.

"They weren't. Chris somehow managed to get them into a nest of lost souls."

"Lost souls?" I asked, shocked.

"How in the world did you manage that?" Edward asked Chris.

"I don't know," she answered with a shrug before she went on to defend herself. "I was way passed caring where we landed and I don't even know where I beamed us."

"How did you find us then?" Alice asked Dylan.

"After looking at every possible place for you to be, I kind of gave up, and then this wolf just appeared out of nowhe–"

"The wolf that attacked us?" screeched Chris.

Dylan frowned at her. "No, the wolf that led me to where you were."

"Why would the wolf know that?" Alice questioned.

"My guess is that it was someone's animal spirit," replied Dylan, yawning.

"But that spell takes a lot of skill and strength," Edward mumbled, sounding thoughtful.

"I know that, but I can't think of anyone who could perform this spell, and to be honest, I don't really care right now." Dylan slowly got himself up and then trotted up the stairs.

I saw Chris looking after him. Then both she and Alice turned to look at the rest of us. "Where are we?" they asked in unison. Apparently the time they'd spent trapped together had brought them closer.

"Mr. Decour's house," Edward replied in a bored tone. The look Chris and Alice gave him was just comical.

"This is Mr. Frenchy-French's house?" Chris asked in disbelief. We all nodded. "Let's get some baguette then. Where's the kitchen?"

Alice's eyes widened and she threw a smug smile in Chris' direction before she pranced off to the kitchen.

"Wha–I am so gonna get you!" Chris hissed and hopped to her feet to rush after Alice. All we heard after that was a lot of noise from the kitchen, consisting mostly of squeaks and crashes.

"I think they're hungry," Emmett noted.

"Oh really?" I replied dryly and went to peek in the kitchen. Alice and Chris were standing in front of the fridge, or rather pushing each other away from it. "Should we do something?" I asked Edward, who had just appeared behind me.

"And die in the process? I think I'd rather not," he answered with a chuckle as he watched the two girls act like hungry wolves.

Thinking of wolves...

"Do you have any idea who might have led Dylan to them?"

Edward looked intently at me. "No, I'm afraid not. Maybe the two of them just have a guardian angel looking out for them."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Chris and Alice stumbled into the living room together where the rest of us were currently seated, watching TV. It was amazing how we all went back to a somewhat normal state as soon as the girls returned.

"I'm not eating anything for the next three days," Chris announced as she heavily dropped herself on the couch.

Alice went over to Jasper and snuggled herself into his side. "Not even sweaty Emmett-cheese?" she asked with a giggle, earning a glare from Chris.

"_Especially_ not sweaty Emmett-cheese."

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about?" Emmett asked, sounding a little offended. The two of them looked at him.

Alice opened her mouth to say something.

"Alice, if you say even one word, I will take you back to the meadow you love so much," Chris hissed menacingly.

"Whatever," Alice answered breezily, waving her off. "I want to sleep."

Her commented reminded me of something. "Did we even have a plan for the sleeping arrangements?" I asked no one in particular.

"Can't we just go home?" Chris asked.

"No, we can't," sighed Edward.

"Why not?" Alice asked. I'd almost forgotten that we hadn't told the others why we were here in the first place.

Before I could explain, though, Edward summarized the whole situation quickly. When he was done, Chris was left with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"So how are we all supposed to sleep?" questioned Alice, getting back to the original topic.

"Well, there is the master bedroom, and two guest rooms up stairs. The living room could be used as well," Jasper spoke thoughtfully.

"Dylan's currently occupying one of the bedrooms," Edward threw in.

"And we have seven people left...one of us has to join Dylan," Jasper calculated quickly. For some reason, all of us turned to look at Chris.

"No way," she grumbled, her face buried in the couch, which made me wonder how she even knew we were all looking at her.

"I could just bunk with Dylan and the twins cou–" Edward started to offer, but Alice interrupted him.

"But Bella doesn't want to sleep without you. Right Bella?" she urged as if she were trying to convey some sort of message to me.

I looked at her and frowned a little at the meaningful glance she gave me.

"Alice, don't you think you're being a little obvious?" Chris mumbled. "If you want to set me up with Dylan, just say so." And with that, she got up and strode out of the room.

"Did she just...she didn't even put up a fight, did she?" Rose asked in disbelief.

"I think she volunteered, babe," Emmett told her.

"Why are you surprised? Everyone knows she loves Dylan," Alice said simply and then got to her feet and pulled Jasper along. The two of them disappeared up stairs as well.

"In a way, it's weird that our clique only consists of couples," Rose murmured.

"So one bedroom left," Emmett said, ignoring Rosalie. "Who wants to take it?"

"Just go," Edward and I sighed at the same time.

Two minutes later, we were alone in the living room.

I yawned.

"Exciting day, huh?" Edward asked as he got up. I didn't know why Edward knew that this was a pull-out couch, but I didn't say anything as he pulled it into a bed.

"Exhausting is more like it," I told him.

He smiled crookedly at me for a moment before he dashed out of the room. I heard a door open upstairs and a complaint from Rose before the door closed again and Edward appeared with pillows and a blanket in his arms. "There," he said and threw all of it at me, successfully burying me underneath.

"If you're trying to be funny, let me tell you now that I am not laughing," I grumbled as I tried to free myself.

I heard his chuckle and then saw his face in front of me. "I'm sorry," he said, not sounding at all apologetic.

Before I could snap something at him, he'd quickly arranged the pillows and blanket in a way that allowed us to lay comfortably. Sometimes his speed was a little unnerving. He hardly ever used it, but when he did, he always managed to get me off track. He was already laying there, looking comfy, relaxed, and perfectly content, while I was still occupied with breathing out. His arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me gently to his side.

I let out another yawn before snuggling closer to him. Inhaling his scent always had a calming effect on me. "Do you think it's safe to let Dylan and Chris be in one room together?" I questioned in a quiet mumble.

"I don't know why you're worrying about this now," he replied. "They managed just fine the last time."

"Yeah, but she was in a good mood then."

Edward sighed. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he murmured under his breath. A moment later, he flinched. "I think they are perfectly fine."

Through the bond, I felt calm happiness that usually occurred when Chris was sleeping, so I wondered what Edward had seen.

"Wha–"

"We're spending way too much time talking about your sister. She's fine and safe now, so you should be worrying a bit more about yourself," Edward said to me.

"There is nothing to worry about."

"Except our current situation." He pulled me even closer to his body as if to protect me from the rest of the world.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. "I'm sure we're safe for now," I told him.

"Don't be too sure," he whispered in my ear and I felt his lips lightly graze over my skin.

I shivered and heard a quiet chuckle come from Edward in response. I felt his lips on my forehead before I slowly succumbed to some much needed sleep.

The next morning came far too quickly for my taste, and it didn't help that I was woken up by the sound of girlie giggles.

I opened my eyes and saw Alice, Chris, and Rose standing there, watching Edward and I. I could tell by the light snores in my ear that Edward was still fast asleep.

"I never thought I'd see the day my sister was spooning with a guy," Chris giggled.

I didn't reply to that as I ignored the following giggles from Alice and Rose. I was still half-asleep and being surrounded by Edward's warmth wasn't helping me wake up. Plus, it seemed like Edward didn't want me to get up either, since he just pulled me closer to him and nuzzled my hair. No matter how many times we'd already slept in the same bed, we had never been this close, mostly because my bed was bigger than this couch. You'd think we always slept like this, cuddled in each others arms, especially if you consider the amount of time we spent lip-locked.

"Um...we should go see what Emmett and Jazzy are doing in the kitchen, and maybe get Dylan to help us with a new set of clothes," Alice suddenly suggested and pushed the other two girls out.

I didn't know what that was all about until I jumped suddenly. Sometimes there were these certain situations in which my mind worked at a speedy pace, which was why I jumped before I had actually registered that something was poking me in the back and what exactly this something was.

I was pretty sure my head would combust if I blushed any harder, but in that moment, Jasper entered the room.

"Bella, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Nothing," I mumbled in response as I worked to calm myself down a bit. "Hey, where is Dylan? I need some new clothes," I asked as casually as I could.

He only quirked an eyebrow at me, then glanced at Edward, grinned, and looked back at me. "He's upstairs with the girls," he answered, fighting to keep the grin off his face.

I nodded gratefully at him as I got up and rushed to where the giggles were coming from. I really didn't know why they were being so girlie today. Maybe it was home sickness.

"Thanks Dylan," both Rose and Alice sang as they waltzed out of the bedroom with a stack of clothes in each of their arms.

"Knock, knock," I said lamely and entered the bedroom.

Chris turned and shot me a huge grin before she vanished inside the bathroom.

"You want clothes too?" Dylan asked, not sounding like he want to do it.

"That would be nice," I answered with a slightly hopeful smile.

"What do you want?"

"I don't care, just summon whatever is on top," I told him with a shrug.

Dylan eyed me for a moment before he nodded. He flicked his wand in a manner similar to Edward and made a stack of clothes appear in front of me. "We'll have to go to our rooms today," he noted.

I nodded at him.

He grimaced slightly, but it wasn't directed at me. It was for Rose, who was dancing passed the open door. "I'm gonna leave you to get dressed," he said and left the room.

I slumped back on the bed and let my mind wander for a brief moment, until I heard a laugh coming from the bathroom. A moment later, Chris stepped out, fully dressed with her hair a little damp. She ran her fingers through it, drying it in the process. I never really understood the workings of our powers. Certain things worked as if they were second nature to us, while others only worked in certain situations.

Chris looked at me with an amused expression. "I thought you already had the pleasure of meeting _him_, considering how much time you spend with Edward," she said smugly.

I only quirked an eyebrow at her.

Chris rolled her eyes. "So naïve, my dear sister. But it had to happen sooner or later. I hope you'll still be able to look Edward in the eye without blushing," she said, running her hands through her hair one more time.

Then it clicked and I knew what she was talking about, causing me to blush once more.

Chris laughed as she left the room.

Stupid bond. She knew way more than she should.

I hurried to get ready fast and then rushed downstairs to join the others in the kitchen. Alice was blabbering happily about the fair, while perched on the lap of Jasper, who was nodding at everything she said.

With Alice's return, the light in Jasper's eyes returned as well, and I smiled fondly at that.

"What are you smiling at?" Edward's voice was right beside my ear and I let out a yelp, causing everyone to look at me.

"Don't creep around like that," I said, putting my hand over my racing heart.

Chris was smiling knowingly along with Alice. The two of them looked at each other and then laughed loudly.

I really hated them in that moment, causing me to glower at the girls.

"What's the joke?" Emmett asked, not wanting to be left out.

Both Alice and Chris simply shook their heads before they composed themselves and continued their fair planning as if nothing had happened.

"Ahh," I heard Edward breathe out before he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um...Bella..." he started, but was cut off by Alice.

"Bella, do you already know when you will have your breaks?" she asked me.

"You mean to look at the other parts?" I asked in return.

Alice nodded.

"Today, I don't. I'm going to have to hang around all day, and I don't know about tomorrow." I slid into the chair next to her and Jasper.

"They're keeping you hostage all day?" Emmett asked from the other side of the table.

"If that's what you want to call it, then yes."

"What are you and Chris doing that's making your groups keep you?" Alice asked us.

"What? I can leave today. Just not tomorrow," Chris commented.

"Yeah, yeah. Same shoe."

"Jasper and I are free at noon," Rose piped.

"Time?" demanded Alice.

"Twelve 'til two," Jasper answered.

"Okay," she replied in thought. "I'll have my break from eleven-thirty 'til two o'clock, so I can visit you guys. Edward, when are you free again?" Alice called over to her brother.

Edward was standing at the counter, looking deep in thought.

"Edward?" Alice called impatiently.

"Huh?"

"Your break," she prompted. "When?"

"Um...one 'til two," he answered absentmindedly.

"So short?" Emmett asked curiously.

"Yeah, I get to finish a little earlier."

"Emmett, your break?" Alice asked him.

"One-thirty to three-thirty, ma'am," he replied quickly, giving a salute.

Alice rolled her eyes. "And Chris?"

"Eleven-thirty to three," she replied lazily, occasionally glancing at me and then at Edward.

"Why is your break so long?" asked Jasper.

"Because I'll be promoting the Pyros while I walk around with you guys," Chris answered.

"Fine. The fair starts at eight and it's six now. I think we should get going, since none of us were at the final rehearsals." Everyone agreed, so we hastily started to gather our things and shuffle out the front door.

On our way, Alice went over her plan. "So Chris, I'll meet you in front of the Special room and we'll go and check out what Rose and Jazzy are doing there. Then we'll visit Edward, then we'll get Emmett to go over to see what Bella is doing all day. Did I forget anyone?"

"Yes, you forgot Dylan," I informed her.

"Oh, no I didn't, Dylan gets to take breaks whenever he wants to," Alice told me.

"So wait...you're all going to come watch me?" I asked, feeling terror seep into my veins.

"Yes, of course," Rose answered for Alice.

"Oh great," I mumbled dryly as we stopped in front of the building where the classy rooms were supposed to be.

Only the building itself was not how it was supposed to be. I already knew that the classrooms were some kind of gate to get to the back door where our main attractions would be, but I didn't know that the front facade of the building would be cut off.

The corridor was somehow melted with the front yard with grass and benches, although I could still make out the original shape of the corridor. The doors were still at the same places, only bigger now, but still closed. There was a tag above each door describing which group occupied it, and where the whole front side of the building usually was, there were concession stands with a few kids setting up a giant archway, made up of flowers, which somehow had the words 'Forks Academy Fair' written onto it.

Right now, the place was fairly empty, with only a few students roaming around here and there, all of them probably working on the last minute preparations.

"Wow, this school really knows how to clean up," Chris remarked.

"Yes, but next year, I should be on the decorating committee," Alice replied, scrunching up her little nose.

"Well guys, I guess we'll see each other later," Emmett said and marched straight through the wall of what was left of the building.

"Right. We should get going. Come on, Alice," Edward agreed and beckoned for his sister to follow him. Dylan was already gone somewhere.

"Alright, I'll see you later," I called to all of them and jogged over to the Hydro room. When I opened the door, I was quickly pulled inside and the door was being shut again. "Wha–"

Bryce gestured for me to be quiet. He motioned to what we usually used as our rehearsal/class and meeting room.

I knew that it was supposed to be the passage that would get the visitors to the actual thing, but I didn't know that they'd planned on icing it as well.

"We don't want anyone outside to see this," Natalia said, appearing from what seemed like no where. She was already wearing her white fur coat, but her hair and makeup were only halfway done.

"When did you do that?" I inquired.

"Oh, me and Japree did it really quickly yesterday. It wasn't that hard. All we had to do was ice it, unlike our little town out there."

She was right. The walls and the floor were made up pure ice, but there were no forms or shapes like the ones we used for the stands. Icicles were hanging from the ceiling, and glistening beautifully.

"Come on, Bella, you need to get to that pool and rehearse one more time with the rest of them," Bryce instructed and pushed me toward the back door.

As soon as I stepped outside, I shivered. It was cold out here and I wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather.

"Bella, there you are!" Carmen called, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. "We need to hurry so we're just gonna get straight to rehearsing."

When I stepped inside the dressing room, I realized that it was probably the only place within our attraction that was actually heated. I quickly changed into the the bathing suit that I was supposed to wear outside in the cold, and hurried after Carmen.

Our rehearsal went by in a blur, and I felt like some kind of toy the whole time because of all of the pushing and pulling from every direction. I sighed in contentment when I was finally able to sit down.

I took a seat in front of my personal dresser and had to wait for Cynthia, who was responsible for my costumes and makeup. Carmen was just finishing up with her hair when she sent me a beaming smile.

"It's already 8," she squealed. "I am so excited!"

"I'm not really looking forward to being the center of attention," I mumbled, feeling absolutely no motivation.

"Oh you'll do fine. I better go do my job now before I get in trouble." Carmen skipped out of the room, happily humming to herself.

I leaned back in my chair with a sigh, then closed my eyes. Hopefully this would all go well.

**Edward POV**

We exited the Physios sweaty gym and quickly sucked in huge gulps of air.

"Seriously? A sports centre? I can't believe so many people actually liked that," Alice complained.

The Physios had set up some kind of sports town with different categories and such. They had a lot of things to offer and they had a whole bunch of workshops with competitions.

I wasn't even surprised to see Emmett wrestling, though I was rather shocked to see that, apart from being a wrestler, he was also a good instructor.

"I think it's great. I'm gonna go check out the yoga tomorrow," Rose said.

"Dammit, I want to go too," Chris whined.

I'd been a little confused this morning when Chris had said that she was supposed to be promoting the Pyros by walking around with us, but now that I saw her, I understood completely. She was wearing a red Indian Sari with very exotic makeup. The Sari had a white floral pattern along the hemline, dancing beautifully along the edge of it. Until today, I'd never noticed that, if she really wanted to, Chris could pass as an Indian. She was drawing a lot of attention to herself, which was probably the plan. A few times, people would walk up to her and ask her why she was dressed like that. She would only smile mysteriously, throw the scarf over her shoulder, and tell them to check out the Pyros' display. When I'd asked her, she'd given me the same answer. None of us knew what the Pyros had in store, except for Alice, who wasn't willing to share that information with us. I'd let it go after a while, not really interested. I would find out what the Pyros did within the next few days, anyway.

"So we're going to see Bella now?" Emmett asked enthusiastically.

"Yep, that's the plan," Alice answered and led the way.

"I've already heard some things about the Hydros. Apparently they actually managed to do something decent this year."

"Oh good. I was so worried that we would have to act like we liked it for Bella's sake," Rose sighed.

I frowned at her and received a glare in return.

"So...what exactly did you hear?" Chris asked Emmett.

"Not too much. Just something about a Queen that's as beautiful as a Goddess. I really don't know what that was about," he answered, shrugging.

We walked into the Hydros place and immediately, all of us started to shiver. We were in a completely frozen room that gleamed arcanely in the dim light.

We weren't the only ones here, either. In front of the entrance to the actual attraction was quite a long lineup of people at a booth. I noticed that the booth was beside the door and had a familiar looking guy passing out coats and occasionally handing out ice skates in it.

"I think the Hydros have really outdone themselves this year," Alice noted, looking around the icy room in awe.

"You haven't even seen anything yet, Alice," I said to her.

"Yes, I did," she sang. "It was weeks ago. Thanks to Irina, you never let me finish that prediction, though."

I quirked an eyebrow at her, but when she didn't elaborate any further, I simply shrugged it off.

When it was finally our turn, I realized who the boy at the booth was. He was, in a way, one of Bella's mentors, Bryce.

"Ah, the Queen's supporters. On special demands of her Majesty, you are going to be treated like royalty yourselves. Here are your coats," Bryce said politely while he handed each of us a nice white coat. "Does anyone here want a pair of ice skates?" he asked us as Dylan appeared in our midst. He'd been there and gone all throughout the day, which I guess was the downside of being a transport service. Bryce handed him a coat as well.

"We want ice skates," squealed Alice as she gestured to herself and Jasper. He didn't really look like he was up for it, but it seemed like as long as it was for my baby sister, he didn't mind.

"I think we should skate too," Rose said to Emmett, who looked at her with wide eyes.

I snickered along with Chris at the thought of Emmett on skates.

Before Emmett could protest, Rose shoved a pair of ice skates in his hands.

"I don't think I can skate in a Sari," Chris mumbled. "By the way, I think I'm going to look really stupid with the coat on."

Bryce eyed her curiously. "You know, I heard that you and your sister were nothing alike, but to be honest, I think you look pretty much the same. Maybe not so much, but you do have the same facial features apart from the eyes," he mused.

Chris only shrugged at that.

Bryce snapped out of his thoughtful state and handed Chris a small fur cape instead of the coat. "Just throw that over your shoulders. Should keep you just as warm as the coat, and it looks better with your dress."

"It's a Sari."

"Whatever." Bryce turned his attention to me now. "Her Majesty has a special pair of skates reserved for you," he told me, grabbing them, and handing them over. They looked like ordinary skates, only the blades looked like they were made up of glass and were shaped beautifully. "It's ice," Bryce told me with a grin.

"Hey, I want skates like that too," whined Chris.

"Sorry. Her Majesty wanted to see Mr. Cullen on these ice skates, not you," Bryce said, unapologetic.

"You know, I really don't care what _her Majesty_ wants, my sister is by far the coolest—"

"Like I just said, these were her Majesty's wishes. If you don't like it, then go and complain to her about it."

Chris huffed in annoyance, snatching the regular skates from Bryce instead.

"Have fun," he said happily when we went to sit on one of the benches next to the door that led outside.

We quickly put on the skates, and then got up and went through the door.

"Whoa," Alice breathed the moment we were out the door.

All I could do was gape and nod slightly in agreement. In all the years I'd attended the fair, I had never seen anything like this. The Hydros were commonly known for their rather unexciting events, mainly because they didn't know what to do with theirs powers, or they weren't enough. But this year, they definitely managed to outdo themselves.

Everything was frozen. It looked like a huge ice city.

There were little ice-made fountains littered here and there, and booths and shops all around. People were skating around all of them, wearing brown coast that didn't look as nice as our crisp white coats did, which made me start to wonder about this whole Queen business.

"This is so cool," Emmett boomed.

"In every sense of the word," Rose agreed as the two of them strode into the middle of the central plaza.

"This is way cooler than the Psychs," Dylan whispered next to me.

"There's no way the Pyros can beat this," I muttered.

The Pyros and the Hydros always had this little competition going. Mainly because apart from the Technos, they were the two smallest groups and could do a lot less with their gifts than the Psychs or Specials. The Pyros usually won, but not because they were so great. It was just more exciting to watch their little fire shows than trying out waterslides that didn't look at all exciting. Still, the Pyros weren't known for any kind of creative spirit. They usually just got some costumes and played around with fire. So maybe I already had my answer for Chris' attire, although there was a drastic difference between this and the usual Pyro style.

"Hey, did you guys see that?" Chris asked excitedly as she pointed to the ground.

We all looked down to where she was pointing. The ice was thick, but I could still see water moving beneath it. Right in that moment, something dashed through the water. Or rather someone, followed by a swarm of fish.

"That is so brilliant," Alice sang and started jumping like she always did. In all of her excitement, she seemed to have forgotten that she was on skates. She started falling, and probably would have hurt herself badly, had Jasper not caught her.

I slid passed her with a shake of my head. "Let's go find Bella," I said to the others, who were still looking around in awe.

Chris was the first one to move to my side, and both of us led the group around, occasionally turning to see either Alice or Emmett fall.

"Oooh, let's get ice cream," Alice suddenly yelled, pointing at a shop in front of us. According to the ice letters hanging above the door, it was called Japree's.

"Maybe Bella is in there," Dylan said. "She did say something about tasting and Japree."

I shrugged and just followed the overly-motivated Alice inside. Looking around, it seemed like any regular old ice cream parlour, only it was incredibly full. Before Alice could run, or rather slide, anywhere, she was stopped by a hostess.

"I'm sorry, we're full right now. If you want to see the water show, you can go stand outside or come back tomorrow," she smiled.

"What water show? I just want—" Alice started, only to be cut off by Rose.

"I thought her Majesty wanted us to be treated like royalty?" Rose said icily.

The girl looked up from her book and eyed Rose. Then she smiled brightly. "Of course, I'm sorry, that was my mistake. Follow me," she gestured for us to follow her lead, and she quickly dashed away on her skates.

Alice and Emmett had a hard time keeping up, but we made it safely to the back of the shop. We were led outside where a beautiful ice garden was set up with tables all over the place. It looked more like a five star restaurant than an ice cream parlour.

The hostess led us to a group table at the far end, right next to a wall that wasn't very high. A moment later, I realized that it wasn't even a wall, but the edge of a pool. A giant pool that stretched over quite a few meters, and the ends were pretty far from the garden. The water was frozen and the whole thing looked like a huge skating rink with a few frozen elements in the middle.

On the other side of the pool, I spotted a building that I couldn't exactly make out due to the distance.

"What's over there?" I asked our hostess before she left.

"Oh, that's the palace," she told me with a smile before she slid away.

"What water show was she talking about? The water's frozen," Chris complained, reaching out to knock on the ice.

"I bet we'll get to see that in a moment," Rose told her and motioned toward the palace.

A group of people walked out of the palace, and judging by their protective formation around a single person, I guessed that this was the Queen. Because of the distance, all I could tell was that, aside from the person next to her, she was the only one wearing white like us. The other people around her were all wearing blue. When they descended down the stairs, everyone starting shuffling around the Queen, cutting off our view so we could no longer see her.

"Maybe we should call Bella," Emmett suggested.

"No need to do that," both Alice and Dylan said.

"Okay, I get why Alice seems to know something, but what about you, Dylan?" Chris asked sharply.

"I'm a transporting service, don't you think I've been here more than once already today? Though I haven't really been at the Pyros today..." he told her with a smirk.

Behind the fence of the garden, people started gathering at the rim of the pool, all seeming to be expecting something.

On the other side, the people in blue started to shuffle around once more, and one of the people in white climbed onto the rim of the pool. It looked like the person touched the ice with the tip of their foot, and suddenly, all of the ice inside of it turned into flowing water, causing the ornaments in the middle to crash.

The woman stepped aside and suddenly there were several people on the very side of the pool, diving into the water. Again, they were all wearing blue. Then there was just the one who made the ice disappear left, her small figure clad in a white bathing suit which matched her white hair. I couldn't make out any details, but even from the distance, the body shape seemed familiar.

I looked at Chris for a moment to confirm my suspicions and then back. "That's Bella!" I exclaimed at the same time as Chris let out a little squeal. "She's going to get a cold if she jumps in there!" I said and waved hastily with my arms, signalling for Bella not to jump inside the water. I didn't know if she was me, but if she did, she ignored me.

"She's ignoring you," Chris informed me, watching her twin in amazement.

I threw a glare in her direction, which she didn't seem to notice.

"Just sit and relax, Edward," Alice said quickly. "Don't worry, she'll be fine." She turned her attention back to Bella.

Bella was still standing at the edge and I watched as she slowly lifted her arms. While she did that, a string of water followed her movements. She dropped her arm again, letting the water sink back into the pool. Then the people who'd jumped in earlier started moving. All of them quickly swam to the middle, splashing the water in a beautiful manner as they did so.

When they met in the middle, they formed a circle and started to do something that looked like a dance. They all swayed slightly, moving their arms around them, letting the water rock back and forth. Then somehow, some of the water around them lifted and circled them. It moved so fast that I wasn't even sure it was moving, but then it slowed down and started to climb up the air in a spiral. Then it all dropped back into the water, earning an applause from the audience while the ones in the water started creating little forms out of the water. Bella lifted her arms again, but this time, only to her sides, before she dropped them back down, slow and elegant. At first, nothing happened, but then I saw the water mimic her movement, creating waves to Bella's left and right and leaving a hole in front of her.

The waves got higher and higher, and then just as the water was above her head, Bella jumped into the hole in front of her.

I nearly jumped out of my chair to jump into the pool to save her, but Alice held me back, giving me a reassuring look.

The water crashed down around Bella and then everything went still. I could practically hear how every person in this ice town was holding their breath. And then in the middle of the silence, a spiral of water shot up with Bella spinning on top. She held still for a minute before the water beneath her crumbled and she fell.

The others below started to move quickly, creating a whirl at the point where Bella would land. She fell right into it, head first. It looked so elegant, which made me assume it was planned. The elegance made her last name suit her even more perfectly than it already, which left me in awe.

Another round of applause followed, while the ones in the water moved quickly to different positions here and there. I could see Bella slowly swimming to the middle, while the others pushed out various water 'jets', making it look like the pool was one giant fountain. Then they all moved back to the sides and climbed out of the water, still creating little forms and shapes until they froze. I saw that the girl who had unfrozen the whole pool was now freezing it again, recreating the ornaments from earlier, which I could now tell were little tricks done by the water manipulators. Bella was still in the middle, and when everything around her was frozen except for the spot where she was, she slammed her hands down in the water. She was pushed up once more, although not as high as before, but the water around her made her look like an angel with wings. And then it all froze. First, the water trail behind her, then her water wings, and finally, her body.

"Don't even think about it, Edward," Alice warned when she saw that I was halfway out of my seat.

"Am I the only one who sees that she's frozen?" I asked in disbelief.

"She's not frozen, there's still water around her," Chris informed me.

I saw the girl who had frozen all this quickly slide over to where Bella was tripped in the air along with a few of the blue people. Meanwhile the crowd was applauding like crazy.

"Encore! Encore!" Emmett shouted along with Rose and Dylan.

Chris applauded as well, although she did look a little worried.

The girl in white was now more visible for me and I could now see a tiara on her head.

"Is that the Queen?" I asked. Nobody answered me, but I didn't actually care. I saw the girl touch the frozen water trail, and suddenly, Bella fell from where she was. A little mass of water dropped down as well, but by a simple movement from the girl in white, it was turned to snow. The guys in blue caught Bella before anything could happen to her, and wrapped her in a thick towel.

"You know, she's good. The angel's still standing," Alice remarked, and she was right.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed the show," a male voice suddenly spoke from behind us as Bella and the rest of the people walked back into the palace.

I turned and recognized him as Japree. He was dressed like a waiter, carrying a tray with empty glass goblets. "So what ice do you want?" he asked as he pulled out a bottle of water. He placed the tray on the table and set a goblet in front of each of us, then handed out a few menus. Another waitress joined him then, carrying a tray with various little bottles.

I looked at the menu and noticed that these were basically snow cones in a goblet.

"I want pineapple-cherry," Alice ordered right away.

Japree nodded and took her goblet. He handed it to the other waitress, who seemed to be some kind of assistant, and she quickly mixed the contents of two bottles in there. Japree took it back and then let his hand linger on it for a moment before he handed Alice her pink ice.

She tried it and then a happy smile lit up her face. "Best snow cone I've ever had," she complimented.

"Oh, we call them snow balls because we don't serve all of them in a cone," Japree told her, flashing a grin. After that, he quickly worked on all of our orders, and when he as done, he handed me a little note. "From her Majesty," he told me, giving me a meaningful look before he and his assistant went to serve some other people.

I opened it and found shiny silver writing inside.

_Invitation for an audience with her Majesty the Water Queen, and her Majesty the Ice Princess._

There was a time written beneath that.

"We have to be at the palace in twenty minutes," I informed them others.

"Oh yay!" Rose mumbled enthusiastically and then continued to munch on her ice.

"We should hurry, I have to get back to work soon," I said.

"Oh please, what's more important?" Chris asked. "Your girlfriend, or a bunch of girls – who you don't even know – drooling over you?"

I only looked at her to tell her that this question was highly unnecessary.

Then her eyes widened in amusement and she giggled. "Although considering the current awkwardness between the two of you, I understand why you would rather be with the drooling girls."

"What awkwa—" I started to ask, but quickly shut my mouth when I realized what she was talking about. So she knew. Had Bella told her? On a scale from one to ten of embarrassing things that could have happened to me today, this was definitely an eleven. How exactly do people deal with situations like that?

"Chill, Edward," Jasper said with a roll of his eyes. "You're not the first guy on Earth who's been in your place, though you are probably the first guy to be this embarrassed. You might wanna chill out a bit more – after all, she is your girlfriend."

Did he honestly have to say something like that now where everyone could listen?

Dylan looked curiously back and forth between me and Jasper, as did Emmett, while Chris and Alice giggled like little school girls.

Sometimes I felt like I was in the wrong place.

"Can't you people hurry up a little? I thought we had to see the Queen," Rose urged impatiently. That got everybody to hurry with their 'snow balls', and when Japree reappeared, he kindly told us that this was on the house. We thanked him and started to make our way over to the palace.

Of course with Alice and Emmett, it took a big longer than it should have for us to get there. After a few moments, Chris started to be a burden as well. It seemed like the Sari was now starting to get in her way, so she stumbled almost as often as Alice. Well, at least she wasn't as bad as Emmett, who was barely standing on the skates as he merely let Rose push him around. At some point, Dylan took Chris by the hand to keep her upright. Alice eyed them curiously, completely forgetting to stumble as she did so. I started to wonder if she tripped on purpose so she could have a reason for Jasper to hold her the whole time.

When we finally stood in front of the step that led up to the palace, I realized that it wasn't as big and impressive as you would assume a palace in real life to be, but it still had us all staring in awe and fascination. Because the palace too was made up of ice and had beautifully carved patterns along the walls.

"How do we get up the stairs on ice skates?" Alice asked, staring at the stairs like they were a death trap.

"You'll just have to be careful when you climb them," Rose advised and then took Emmett's hand to lead him up the stairs.

Chris was apparently not in the mood for any careful walking, so she simply took the skates off, ran up the stairs, and put them back on.

That was one way to do it. I quickly dashed up, barely even touching the steps, and arrived somewhat at the same time as Dylan.

Rose, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett all glared at us as they continued their careful climb while the three of us watched them, encouraging them along the way. When they finally made it up, we all turned and stood in front of the big ice door.

"Now what?" asked Rose.

"Maybe we should knock," Emmett suggested. We all turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, but he just shrugged and hit his fist again the door, which was smaller than the big one, and built into it.

"Do you have an audience?" the guy who opened it asked lazily. I showed him the note that Japree had given me earlier. He looked at it, nodded, and then let us go through. We were in a small entry hall that was, like everything else, made out of ice. Even the chandelier on the ceiling was ice. He led us to another set of doors, opened them, and loudly announced, "Your Majesty, you have guests."

I heard an answering groan come from inside before the guy pushed all of us through the door, closing it behind him. We were in what I suspected to be the throne room. I came to this conclusion when I saw the two icy thrones that were on the other side of the room. One of which was occupied by Bella. Next to her sat Natalia, who was having a quiet conversation with a girl to her right, who was dressed in blue like the rest of the people standing on each side of the room. I counted twelve people dressed in blue.

"Welcome, my subservients," Bella greeted us calmly, though I could detect a little grin etched on her face.

"Bella is the Queen?" Chris and Rose screeched, making everyone jump.

Even though this was supposed to be the throne room, the atmosphere in here wasn't royal at all, except for the aura around Bella and Natalia. Their servants were just lounging around, playing Chess or attempting to look stoic, but failing horribly.

I looked at Bella and was immediately reminded of Emmett's words. She was indeed as beautiful as a Goddess. Her usually mahogany brown hair was now as white as the dress she had on. Her makeup had an icy effect and matched the overall look perfectly. On top of that, she wore a little tiara on her head. She smiled gently down at us, giving her an even more Goddess-like look.

If I'd ever thought she was beautiful before, she was truly stunning now, looking at us the way she was. She had this incredible air of charisma around her and I wondered if it had anything to do with her being the Queen.

"I knew you were going to be a stunning Water Queen, but the Ice Princess looks pretty beautiful as well," Alice complimented the two girls sitting on their ice thrones.

Natalia pulled a grimace at her, but grinned at the same time.

Bella's eyes fell onto me and as soon as I caught her gaze, she looked away. I detected a faint blush underneath of her white makeup.

"Well, now that we're here and all, I can complain," Chris started and marched up to her sister. "Why does Edward get those pretty skates and not me? I am your twin and he's just...Edward," she whined, causing everyone's eyes to turn to her. I could see the curiosity within some of their facial expressions when Chris mentioned being her twin. I guessed that, especially today, the differences between the girls were visible and emphasized with Bella dressed in this Arctic style and Chris looking so oriental.

They truly looked like fire and water. I grinned a little to myself at the thought.

Bella sighed. "Because we only had these left, and they're hardly your size."

Chris simply huffed childishly and mumbled something under her breath.

"You know, as much as I love these awesome thrones, I'd really like to take my break now, so can we please drop this facade now?" Natalia groaned, squirming around on her throne.

Bella laughed quietly at her. "Sure, I'm done showing off anyway," she replied and gracefully slipped off her seat. "I'm just gonna change real quick and then I will show you around," she then said to us before she vanished through a door behind the thrones with Natalia and a few others by her side.

"Well Chris, it seems like you're the bad luck charm for the Pyros. This is the first time in years that the Hydros are going to win the bet," Rose said to Chris, obviously trying to rile her up.

But Chris just smiled broadly. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure water beats fire," I commented.

She grimaced at me like she so often did. "Yes, but fire melts ice. Who asked you anyway?"

I let out a quiet chuckle, shaking my head at her expression. Sometimes I really thought that she didn't like me, but Bella always reassured me that she did. The few times I'd gotten to see inside Chris' head, I saw that her sister was right and that she didn't dislike me, she just liked being a bitch to me, partly because I was dating her sister and she was protective. It's good that I have a thing for the much more bearable twin. I didn't think I would survive in Dylan's shoes.

Speaking of Dylan, he suddenly turned to me after casting a look at his watch. "Um, Edward...don't you have to go back to playing escort soon?" he asked with a smug smile.

I sighed. The Psychs always build a fair as their display along with the Technos. We kind of had separated displays, but collaborated here and there. Anyway, since we just had to have as many interesting things as possible, we always tried to use every person's potential for something.

Last year, I played the Mirror of Truth. Someone could drag their friend, sister, father, or whatever, to me and confront them about a topic, then ask me if they were lying. A liar would get hit on their head with my scepter. It was actually really fun, but Miriam, one of the council members, didn't want me to do the same thing again, so she came up with an escort service. As I mentioned before, the fair was all about using a person's potential, and apparently Miriam took that very seriously or she just didn't get it.

A few girls and boys had been chosen to be escorts, which basically meant that some boy or girl could rent one of us to escort them to their fair as their date. Our task was to make it seem like a real date, only we weren't supposed to go any further than holding hands. And since the Psychs were a democratic party, we chose who got the wonderful task of being an escort. Unfortunately, I was one of them. Apparently it didn't seem to matter that I had a girlfriend, because when I'd mentioned that Bella might be upset about it, Miriam just told me to break up with her if she couldn't handle the competition.

Dylan was also one of the escorts, but he'd gotten himself out of it for today by volunteering to help the transporting service. Now all he had to do was walk around with the shirt that had 'Transport'written on it along with the amount of people. In his case, it was two. Then someone could just walk up to him and request to be brought wherever they wanted to go next.

Originally, Alice had been chosen to be an escort as well, but then we all agreed that we needed a fortune teller at our fair, so she was let off the hook. So basically, I was pretty much the only one who had to suffer today, but I would make sure that Dylan's day tomorrow would be just as horrible as mine.

My thoughts were interrupted by the reappearance of Bella. I really didn't see the sense in her changing, mostly because she was wearing the dress again. It was white and had fur along the neckline, which was off both shoulders sort of like a wrap, and had fur along the hem of the wrists. It looked a little thick and fairly warm, which was good seeing as she was surrounded by ice, and the skirt of the dress had a small train.

"I'm really starting to hate this whole Queen thing," she complained.

"Why? You look wonderful!" Alice stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Maybe so, but I don't necessarily enjoy having to wear a dress the whole time."

"Quit whining, you look awesome. Now show us around," commanded Chris.

"I don't think you should be ordering the Queen around," I said to her.

"Oh please, you're only saying that because you're the one...oh wait, no you're not." The grin on Chris' face was definitely never a good thing.

I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to read her mind. Unfortunately she seemed to have her shield in place today. I looked at Bella, who was staring at her sister in concentration.

"Hmm...I guess we'll never know what that means," Bella said and shrugged. Apparently Chris defeated her sister. I wasn't even sure how she'd done that.

Rose quickly processed her words and then she started laughing hysterically.

Thanks to Rose, I knew what Chris meant and I groaned as I shook my head. "Let's just go," I suggested and Bella nodded, sliding gracefully to my side.

**Alice POV**

Chris was already waiting for me in front of the Special room.

"What are you wearing?" I asked her immediately, not bothering to greet her properly.

"A Sari," she answered curtly.

"Not that it doesn't look good, but why?"

"You'll know as soon as you see the Pyros display," she said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. I'd probably know sooner than that. "Well, then for now, let's go visit Jazzy and Rose," I exclaimed in excitement. I couldn't wait to see what Jazzy was doing. I'd purposely tried my best not to look into that particular part of the future because I want to be surprised.

We entered the room and hurriedly shuffled into the line. The guy who sat at the info desk looked pretty bored. When it was our turn, he didn't even really look at us, he just started taking immediately.

"Here are your numbers. Sign your names here and here," he said lazily in a monotonous voice that made it sound like he'd repeated it a million times already. We did as he asked, quickly signing our names. "If you get lost, just tap your wand against the wall and you'll get out," he took a deep breath. "The rules of the game are simple. Try to find your way through the labyrinth and complete the tasks the God's ask you to do. If you're not capable of doing so, you will be disqualified and escorted out. If you win the game, you will get to choose one of the Gods to be your slave for one whole day. Enjoy yourselves."

"Another maze?" Chris shrieked as soon as we were through the entrance.

"You got a problem with that?" I asked her.

"Oh no, not really. The last time I was in a maze, someone did, but no, I don't have a problem."

"Chill. This is hardly like our Halloween maze."

"Whatever. Who or what are the Gods anyway?"

"We'll see soon enough." I led the way through the maze and soon we landed in an aisle where a blond haired girl in a toga was waiting for us. I noticed mirrors in the aisle and briefly wondered what they were for.

"My name is Samantha. I am the Goddess of the Mirrors. If you succeed in catching me within one minute, you may pass through."

"What do you mean 'catch you'?" Chris asked, bewildered.

Samantha turned to one of the mirrors and simply stepped inside. "Get me out of whichever mirror I am walking around in," she stated.

"How the—"

"Your time starts now." And with those words, she walked out of the window frame and appeared in another mirror. She was quite fast and slipped quickly from one mirror to the next. She was above our heads, beside us...everywhere.

"How are we supposed to get her out?" Chris asked.

"She only said that we have to get her out of the mirror she's in, right?"

"Um...yes?"

"Okay then, I have no idea," I told her truthfully.

She groaned in response.

"Can you punch through glass?"

"Shattering mirrors isn't the most wise idea," Samantha commented from above us. "It will only create more places for me to be." Suddenly she was beside Chris. "You have ten more seconds."

Chris sighed and reached her hand out for the mirror where Samantha was currently in.

"You can't pull me out."

Chris made no move to comment as she began poking Samantha's face, though she never actually touched it. At first, I didn't even realize what she was doing, but then I saw her other hand on the lower corner, blazing up and slowly melting the glass. Gradually, the whole mirror became somewhat liquid. By the time Samantha realized this, it was a little too late.

"What are you doing? That's not—" Before she could finish, all the glass started to drip out of the frame, causing Samantha to fall with it.

"Did we pass?" I asked, excited.

She looked at her watch. "Yes, just in time. You may proceed."

I squealed, thanked Chris quickly, and skipped off down the aisle with Chris trailing behind me.

"Alice, don't you think it'd be useful to know what's next?"

I looked at her and sighed. "That would just ruin all the fun," I told her wisely.

Chris rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head.

Yes, we'd really grown on each other. Even without my power, I had an excellent sixth sense, which was why I led the way. Chris just strolled lightly behind me, muttering something under her breath. By the sounds of it, she was complaining.

It wasn't too long before we spotted a guy in a toga. He looked kind of bored, but when he saw us approaching, he jumped up excitedly.

"I am Ryan, God of Duplication. You must find which one of us is real before you may pass. You will have thirty seconds to complete your task," he said in an unnaturally deep voice as eh pushed his chest out in an attempt to look buff and impressive.

"You're not getting a lot of action over here, are you?" Chris asked him in a bored tone.

"No, not really," he admitted, letting his shoulders slump.

"How many people have made it here?" I asked.

"Not including you, just two others."

I nodded in understanding.

"So, what weapon did you use to get Sam out of her mirror?" Ryan asked.

"I melted it," Chris said nonchalantly.

"Melted it? I didn't know they gave out such dangerous weapons."

"What do you mean they give out weapons?" I asked him, a little confused.

"Um, did you not get any at the entrance?" he asked slowly, his brow furrowed.

"No," Chris and I answered in unison.

"Well that sucks. You're supposed to get three items at the entrance to help you with some of the talents you encounter in here. Others you'll have to deal with yourself – for example, me."

"So what kind of items are handed out at the entrance, and is it bad that we don't have any?"

"Well, they give out things like earplugs, robes, chill pills...that kind of thing. Of course we don't know what path you will take, so the things you get may or may not be useful. And since you seem to have made it passed Sam without any help, I wouldn't say you are at a complete disadvantage. Using talents is allowed," Ryan told us with a shrug.

"Well, if that's the case, let's get to it already," Chris said, now a little impatient as she interrupted the conversation between Ryan and I.

"Right. Like I said before, you have thirty seconds." Ryan stepped back and before I could even blink, there were nine more of him. All of the Ryans stood in a line, grinning at us, and together, all of them said, "Your time starts now."

I looked at Chris, who was looking at me expectantly.

"You're the psychic, don't look at me," she said.

I smiled briefly at her before I channelled my concentration on the different possible outcomes in front of us. Nine out of ten scenarios weren't the ones we wanted. I opened my eyes and looked the one that I knew was the real Ryan straight in the eyes. "You're the real one," I said, pointing my finger at him dramatically.

All of the Ryans jumped up and their laughter filled the air. "Congratulations," they screamed. "You may proceed." The ten Ryans moved to make room and continued jubilantly as we vanished around a corner.

"I am so glad you cannot duplicate," Chris murmured with a shudder.

"That wouldn't be as bad as if you were the one who could duplicate," I retorted with a grimace. "Ugh, more than one of you," I shuddered, wincing at the thought.

"Whatever, Cullen."

The next few minutes we spent teasing each other, until I came to a screeching halt, causing Chris to bump into me.

"Seriously, Alice—"

"Oh hello. Long time no see, huh? Oh wait, it actually hasn't been that long," Irina said with a wicked smile on her face. She too was wearing a toga and until our arrival, she had also been fairly bored. Now her eyes were gleaming viciously as they darted between me and Chris.

"See," Chris hissed next to me. "This is why I said it's useful to know what comes next."

I would have retorted something, had Irina's voice not interrupted me.

"You know, Nightmare has been looking for you. I told the boss that I could do it, but he thought I wasn't capable of completing the task. So Nightmare has been given the task to get you, and being the idiot she is, she wasn't capable of finding you. Now I'm just sitting here all day and two of you are in my immediate reach, and the another two have just walked straight into my arms. Now who's the incompetent one?"

"Do you honestly think we care about the problems you have with your job?" I asked her with a sigh, hoping to cover up any fear with sarcasm.

"If you have issues with your boss and co-workers, maybe you should see a guidance counsellor or maybe even a therapist," Chris added.

Irina quirked an eyebrow at us. "You two should be a little more submissive. You do realize that I am going to take you to my boss now, right?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but snapped it closed with a pop. Behind me, I felt Chris shift uncomfortably before I felt heat radiating from her.

"How is that burn I gave you, Irina? Healed yet?" Chris asked through clenched teeth.

Irina narrowed her eyes at Chris and I saw her hands twitch.

"If you touch Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, or any of my friends, I will make sure I hit you more precisely next time."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Chris raise her blazing hand to emphasize her threat.

"I can make you disappear before you can even say 'hot'," Irina replied cockily.

Chris mumbled something about a bad comeback and then suddenly there were ranks growing out of Irina's back, making her look like Dr. Octopus. Chris moved to push me aside, a vicious gleam now in her eyes as well.

"You two are both idiots. You do realize that students and teachers keep tabs on what happens in here, right? If someone gets hurt, they'll know who did it, and the same thing goes for if someone disappears, so you two might wanna cool down," I interceded, feeling like I was explaining something to five-year-olds.

It was obvious that neither of them had been thinking this far ahead. Of course not. It was sad that a self-proclaimed genius like Chris wouldn't think about something as simple as that.

Chris sighed. "I totally forgot about that," she murmured and hit herself on the forehead. "Well, I guess your threats are kinda empty then, hey Irina?"

She grimaced at her.

"Instead of standing there doing nothing useful, how about you just tell us what our task is, we do it, we pass, and you can keep dreaming of catching us."

The evil glint returned to Irina's eyes. "I think I'll just let you two pass. I might not know where your hiding place is, but this campus isn't big enough for you to hide forever. I will find you and even if I don't, I think I know how to get you where and when I want you." She was mostly threatening Chris, but her eyes kept flitting to me.

"Ugh, even for your standards this sounded bad and disgusting," Chris complained and quickly pulled me along to get passed Irina. "Thanks to this little baby here, I'll know when you're coming and I'll be waiting for you," she said, patting my head as we passed Irina. The two girls glared at each other for a moment before we continued walking.

When we were out of hearing range, Chris let out a deep breath and let her shoulders slump a little. It was then I realized she wasn't nearly as tough as she acted. She seriously was far too protective for her own good. I smiled fondly at her when her eyes found mine.

She opened her mouth but I shook my head, immediately knowing what she wanted to ask.

"It's the fair and I think they all just got out of a depressing mood after our disappearance. Let them have some fun, at least for now, before we let them all freak out again," I told her gently.

Chris seemed to think for a moment before she nodded in agreement.

"Great, you know we also deserve to have some fun, so come on, let's win this game," I said to her, back to my usual excited self as I pushed away any dark thoughts and pulled her along.

It wasn't too long after that I felt a familiar presence and I immediately quickened my pace.

"Alice, what are we running from?" Chris asked anxiously when I hurriedly tugged on her hand.

"Alice," said a surprise voice.

A grin spread across my face when I saw Jasper sitting on the floor looking entirely relaxed. "Jazzy!" I squealed, throwing myself at him, feeling completely safe and content when he embraced me tightly.

"Let me guess," Chris said, then turned sarcastic. "We weren't running from anything, we were just running _to_ Jasper."

I nodded and peppered small kisses all over Jasper's face as he sat there, allowing me to do so.

"I thought looking ahead would ruin all the fun," Chris continued mockingly.

"I didn't use my gift. I know when Jasper is close," I informed her. Jasper was obviously pleased to hear this as an insanely handsome smile spread across his face, making me want to kiss him even more. As if he'd read my mind, his lips were pressed urgently to mine, sending chills throughout my body.

In the background, Chris sighed. "You guys are so sweet, it's giving me a toothache, so could you please cut it out?"

Jasper frowned slightly but let go of me anyway.

"Don't look at me like that. Don't you have a task for us?"

"Actually, I don't," he answered. "My break just started, I'm just waiting for my replacement to get here."

"Already here," a voice called and a small girl skipped around the corner.

"Great, you can name your task then and I'll just lean back and watch."

"Alright," the girl said excitedly while my Jazzy leaned against the wall. "My name is Renata and I'm the Goddess of Confusion. Your task is to try and touch me. You have 120 seconds to accomplish this task. Your time starts now."

I looked at Chris, who didn't make a move to get close to Renata. Judging by her expression, she was trying to find the difficulty in the task. I sighed and approached Renata. She was just standing a few steps in front of me.

A strange wave of energy went through my body and when it passed, I found myself standing several feet away from Renata. How did I land here? The look Chris gave me said the same thing but I just shrugged at her in reply.

Renata stood there, smiling smugly at us.

Chris let out a sigh and approached Renata herself, but for some strange reason, she just walked in a completely different direction when she came closer to her.

I frowned at that and saw Chris open her mouth, probably to complain or curse, but I didn't get to hear what she said. My sight became blurry and the scene in front of me was replaced by another one.

"Alice, you're doing that creepy eye thing again," Chris noted, pulling me back into reality.

"You should be thankful for that because now I've got the answer," I told her. Having unannounced visions wasn't something I was used to yet. It was only the second time it had happened to me and I wasn't the least bit in control of it.

"Answer to what?"

"Renata's projecting a shield that confuses people in her radius. It's a purely mental defense, so if you just start using your mental shield a little better..."

Chris didn't even let me finish as she turned around to quickly walk to Renata's side. She tapped her lightly on the arm and grinned. "We won," she sang while Renata looked disgruntled about being defeated.

"Have fun," she griped and motioned in the direction we were supposed to go.

Jasper was at my side again, walking silently with us.

"Doesn't Rose have her break now?" I asked.

"She does, but she also probably has to wait for her replacement. They take some time to make it through this place," Jasper answered.

"I wonder why," mumbled Chris.

Jasper ignored her. "How was your day so far?" he asked me quietly.

"Kind of annoying, really. Those people all ask such stupid questions. Most of the guys just want to cheat with their bets in the Physios display, which results in all of them winning next to nothing since they all knew who would win. And all of the senior girls ask me where Edward is, if he is currently available, and when he will break up with Bella. As if I need to be a psychic to answer those questions."

Jasper let out a quiet chuckle and squeezed my hand. "I'm sure you're doing a great job anyway."

I grinned at him and wanted to kiss that beautiful face when Chris' voice ruined the whole thing.

"Rose!" she exclaimed.

Rose was sitting in front of a closed door and when she heard her name, she glanced up from the magazine she'd been reading. "You guys actually made it this far?" she asked boredly.

"Just tell us what we have to do to win this thing and then we can be done with it," Chris sighed.

"I really don't think it's going to be that easy," I noted, but Chris just waved me off. She was such an idiot sometimes.

"Alright. I'm the Goddess of Love and all you have to do is walk through that door. You have 30 seconds to do so, starting now." Rose flipped her long blond hair over her should and smiled beautifully at us. She seemed to be glowing as if a spotlight was directed at her, and then suddenly, some kind of pull made me want to be close to her. I forgot all about Jasper's arm being around me and I forgot about Chris standing close by. All I saw was Rose. Beautiful, stunning Rose.

It was like an angel's choir was singing as she stood in the light, and then suddenly, it all stopped. I felt strangely empty for a moment and was a little disoriented.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't pass," Rose said with a pout. She was still beautiful, but this unnatural light around her was gone and I let out a frustrated groan. I really really hated her pheromones. I made a mental note to start carrying pheromone blockers around at all times. She'd used that gift of hers often enough to get her way, even if in this case it was just part of a game.

"I hate pheromones," I heard Chris murmur and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"I seem to remember a day when you were pretty fond of them," I said innocently.

She glared at me and behind me, Rose giggled and started making cat noises.

"I really don't know why I'm friends with you people," Chris hissed.

"Don't worry, sweetie, we ask ourselves that every day," I said to her, flashing a grin.

Before Chris could come up with a retort, we were interrupted by the boy who was supposed to take over Rose's shift and we gladly slipped through the door that Rose had protected earlier. Behind it was a little hall that was set up for a part with a few people lounging around.

"Still no winners?" a boy asked.

Rose shook her head with a proud smile.

"Awesome," he cheered.

"Aren't you getting bored though?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we can entertain ourselves enough. The thing with this game is that everyone wants to win, and if they don't, they just start again. You two are actually the first ones who have made it this far and also the only ones who walked through one of our doors. You might wanna try it again, I'm sure you could win."

"He just wants you to waste your time in there," Jasper said with a sigh and shook his head at the boy before he led the way out of the little hall and back to the entrance.

"Well lets go get Eddie boy now," Rose encouraged.

"Don't you guys want to change out of the togas?" Chris asked her with a giggle.

"Right. Come on, Jasper."

Jasper breathed another sigh and quickly followed Rose. It took them five minutes to reappear in normal clothing.

"You know, I liked that toga," I said to Jasper.

"I know," he replied with a grin.

We made our way to the Psychs display, and like every year, the crowd was huge in this part. Everyone was pushing and screaming, laughing and crying, winning and losing. We passed different booths and cafes along the way.

We came passed a stand called 'Flying with Peter Pan'. Sure enough, there was a guy dressed up as Peter Pan in an anti-gravity field. The Technos had built that with the help of Justin and Sarah, who had the ability to suppress gravity. If I'd heard it correctly, one of them always had to be connected with the machine that was somewhere beneath, in order for it to work. The only thing that we saw was Peter Pan and a girl soaring up in the air.

"Looks like fun. I think I'm gonna do that later or something," Rose commented.

"Later? Don't you have to get back to work?" Chris asked her.

"Unlike you, we actually get free time. We work in shifts and get more than one break. Most people do, but the first breaks are always the ones that overlap."

"Does that mean everyone gets another break later?" Chris asked with a pout.

"Yup," answered Jasper while I nodded.

"Please tell me you're not coming to see me."

"We're not. We'll do that as a collected group," I reassured her with an evil grin, knowing that this was a lot worse to her.

"I never thought you were as shy as Bella," Rose laughed.

"I'm not, I just don't want you people there."

"That hurt our feelings," Jasper mocked her, grinning.

Chris didn't reply as she turned her attention to a kissing booth instead. "A kissing booth isn't very original."

"It is when you're kissing a shapeshifter," I told her. "From what I've heard, there's a lot of girls lining up to demand Edward. Mandy's not particularly pleased with her task."

"Can she shape into whoever I want?" Chris asked excitedly.

"Yes."

"Lets go and smooch her then."

"I don't see the sense in that since Jazzy's already at my side," I told her with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh please, don't you have a secret fantasy?" she retorted. "Brad Pitt? Matthew McConaughey? Pete Doherty?"

"Ew, that was just plain disgusting," Rose commented with a shudder.

"Who is Pete Doherty?" Jasper asked.

Chris bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing and I narrowed my eyes at her, and then suddenly, I was hit with another of those visions that I didn't summon.

"There is no way in hell I am going to do that," I protested instantly.

Chris laughed loudly now that she knew I saw what her evil mind plotted.

Rose sighed. "It's not the time for stupid dares right now."

"Why? It's not like we have something important to do," Chris protested.

"Oh, look over there Seven Minutes in Heaven! How about we try that out?"

Chris looked to where Rose was pointing and frowned. "Doesn't look like much fun," she noted when she took in the tent that had called Rose's attention.

"We should go check it out anyway. The illusionists combined with the readers should be able to create some really nice illusions," I encouraged.

"You might not want to go in there. I heard that the front is Seven Minutes in Heaven and the back is Seventeen Minutes in Hell. I wonder how they kept it a secret from the whole group," Dylan's voice was suddenly right beside me, causing me to jump. Everyone turned at the sound of his voice.

"Don't ever do that again," I said, placing a hand over my racing heart and scowling at my brother.

He saluted and grinned at me with twinkling eyes.

"Were you already in there?" Chris asked Dylan, pointing at the Heaven/Hell tent.

"I'm not crazy," he answered.

A smile slowly spread across Chris' face. "How about you and I check it out?"

"I just said I'm not crazy."

"You mean you're not brave enough."

"Are you implying that I'm scared?"

"Obviously."

"Oh please, as if you would go in there."

"I will if you do."

"Why? Are you scared to go in without me?"

"No, but having you by my side would make everything else seem less scary."

"So you are scared without me."

"No, I mean it can't get much worse than you."

"I—"

"Shut up already. You two go in there and lose your minds and we'll..." I looked around for something that was worth spending time with. "We'll go to the robot auction."

"I thought we were going to get Edward?" Rose said, not really impressed by my idea.

"Edward?" Dylan let out a loud laugh. "He's still working and I wouldn't free him from his suffering any time soon."

Jasper looked at his watch. "We still have time anyway, Edward's break starts at one."

"So it's settled then. Lets see if we can get a cute robot," I squealed.

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean you guys are going to look at some machines while I have to go through Hell?" Chris asked hastily.

"It was your idea," Jasper murmured with a shrug.

"Are you scared, Swan?" Dylan asked her mockingly.

"Lets go." She grabbed Dylan's arm and stomped toward the tent.

"She is such an idiot," Rose sighed. "Hard to believe she's related to Bella."

"One of them had to get all the stupidity," I said, shrugging as we strode to the auction house.

"Rosalie, I didn't think I would bump into you two here," a familiar voice called. I didn't even need to look to know it was Ms. Hale. "And I see that you've got little Alice back," she said when she stood in front of us. "I hope the same goes for the second Swan girl."

I lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Why did she know that I'd been gone and when did she meet Bella?

"Yes, she's back as well. She went with Dylan to the Heaven tent," Rose replied swiftly.

"Yes, yes, that's great," her mother answered distractedly.

I've never really been able to figure this woman out. She seemed so stiff at times that I wondered how she had managed to raise two kids like Rose and Jasper.

As my eyes drifted to her, I noticed that she was dressed up in an expensive black dress with matching pumps. I'd always admired her sophisticated, polished style, but she seemed to be so out of place right now in the middle of this colorful crowd.

"Justine," another voice called. I immediately recognized my mother on the arm of my father.

"Why are so many parents here?" Jasper asked, motioning his head toward all the adults entering the auction house.

"Because they're the ones who can afford to actually buy these robots. And it's not like everyone is a parent of a student here," Rose answered quietly.

Justine Hale had turned her attention to my parents, greeting them pleasantly.

"Alice, where are the others?" Dad asked me when he saw that there were only three of us.

"Emmett, Edward, and Bella are working," I answered.

"Ah yes, I saw the Hydros display, very impressive. Have you seen it yet?"

"Not yet, we're planning to go there as a whole group," Rose told him.

"I won't tell you too much then, but I can tell you that it's quite impressive. After the auction, your mother and I will see if the Pyros can top it this year," Dad grinned playfully, looking a lot like Edward in that moment.

"Well if the others are working, where are Chris and Dylan then?" Mom asked.

"Seven Minutes in Heaven," Jasper replied curtly.

Mom sucked in a deep breath. "They do know how the thing ends, right?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh yes," Rose and I chorused.

"Well, shall we go inside now?" Ms. Hale suggested.

"Oh yes, I want to see if I can get something new for my kitchen," Mom agreed and pulled my father along.

We followed our parents inside and got ourselves seated. The next minutes we spent watching different demonstrations of robots that the Technos had built. Not exactly robots in the sense of a human-like machine, although they did also have something like that as well. Mostly it was just some freaky kind of holographic computers or self-working kitchen aids. Not much that a spell wouldn't do. The auction didn't take much time, and soon, we were all stepping out of the house again.

Not a second too late, Chris and Dylan appeared in our midst.

"How was Hell?" Rose asked the two of them and they both shrugged in response.

"It's not that bad, really. The readers aren't rummaging through minds anymore because apparently there have been quite a few breakdowns after they dug out the greatest fears and let the illusionists project them. Now it's like a real life haunted house," Dylan explained quickly.

"So it's not scary?" I asked him.

"It might be to some people. Chris threw a fit when she saw the spiders."

Chris smacked him on his arm, grimacing.

"Um, excuse me, but you are not really Isabella's twin, are you?" Ms. Hale interrupted our conversation.

"Yes, I am, and who are you?" Chris asked boldly, not even bothering to sound polite.

Ms. Hale only lifted one of her delicate eyebrows at her.

Rose groaned and shook her head at Chris.

"Is she a friend of yours, Rosalie?" her mother asked.

"Yes, but I assure you she is not always so—"

"You better watch what you say, Hale, or I'll smoke your ass," Chris interceded. Did she intend to make a bad impression on Rose and Jazzy's mom? But then again, she didn't know that it was their mother, although she should be able to figure it out seeing as Rose looks an awful lot like her mother.

Ms. Hale eyed Chris carefully while Jasper chuckled quietly beside me. I really didn't see what was so funny in this situation, but I didn't say anything.

"Well, don't you want to introduce yourself, young lady?" Ms. Hale's question sounded more like an order.

Chris looked at her, a slightly amused expression on her face. "I'm sorry, my name is Christabel Swan," she then said perfectly polite, sounding like an innocent girl.

Ms. Hale merely pursed her lips before she turned and walked away.

As soon as she was out of reach, I turned to Jasper. "Why in the world was this situation so amusing to you?"

Jasper only shook his head, not answering my question. We all exchanged looks of confusion for a moment before he reminded us that Edward was probably expecting us any minute.

We quickly said our goodbyes to my parents and then fought our way through the crowd to get to the escort rental place. They'd built a little shop for it, which was basically a room in which the chosen escorts lounged around until a customer paid for them at the front counter. When we entered, Miriam was standing behind the counter.

"I guess you're here to pick up your brother," she noted, her eyes on me and Dylan. She wasn't particularly happy with us since Dylan got out of his duty for today and I got out of it for the whole fair. She was like a collector and seemed to be displeased about the fact that she didn't get all the Cullens at once. I had a feeling that she was already plotting something for next year.

"Dylan, I don't think I've ever been this happy to see you in my life," Edward called as he walked up to us.

"What about the rest of us?" Chris asked him. "Aren't you happy to see us?"

Edward looked at her for a moment then shook his head. "I'm happy to see all of you. Can we go now?" He seemed to be in a hurry to leave.

"What's the matter, Eddiekins? Can't handle all the girls?" Rose laughed. As if on cue, a group of giggling girls stormed in and went straight to the counter, all of them demanding to get Edward, before they caught sight of him and started shrieking like a bunch of fangirls. Then they noticed Dylan and Jasper and their screaming got even louder.

"I've never seen so many lesbians at once," Chris noted and laughed at her own joke. When all three of the boys glared at her, she defended herself. "What? I was talking about the ones who seem to be crushing on Edward."

That was good enough for Dylan and Jasper. Edward didn't bother to comment and instead pushed us through the group of crazy girls to get us out.

Soon we found ourselves at the Physios display. It was like the capital city of sports. There were all kinds of workshops for different kinds of sports, along with competitions which the visitors could enter. There was also competitions between the members of the Physio group, who used their abilities against each other in some way. Searching for Emmett, we landed in a wrestling stadium which was filled with screaming fans, all of them wearing various fan articles. I already knew the outcome of every battle that would take place in here, thanks to the people who asked me earlier. Apart from doing sports or watching others sweat, the thing that a lot of people did here was lose money. I never understood why people liked to bet so much on sporting events, but then again, I mostly knew the outcomes.

"Do we really have to sit between those sport fanatics? I really don't care much for wrestling," Rose complained when we moved through the rows to get to our seats. Apparently Emmett had set cards somewhere in the front row just for us. According to the guy who let us in, these were the best seats in the house because you could 'smell the sweat'.

"Oh, come on, Rose, it'll be fun," Jasper said encouragingly with a wide grin stretched across his face. Even if he would never admit it out loud, Jasper enjoyed these kinds of things. Not necessarily watching them, but definitely being a part. Dylan wasn't any better, either. Only Edward seemed to stay somewhat civilized.

"I really don't see the point in watching a couple of idiots beating each other up," Rose had complained twenty minutes ago. Now she was jumping up, screaming and yelling more than Dylan and Jasper. "On the head dammit. You're hitting like a girl. Man up and take him down already," she yelled loud enough for the dead to hear. Even Chris had joined them, leaving me and Edward to be the only ones not acting like lunatics. Although I must admit, I did occasionally cheer as well.

Wrestling in the traditional way would definitely not be something I would waste my time with, but of course, our school made it a lot more interesting since the use of talents was permitted.

The usually quiet Dario put on a pretty impressive performance against a girl whose name I didn't know, but she could stretch herself to an extreme length. He actually put her in a knot, which made the audience go wild. Dario seemed to be invincible, seeing that even the invincible guy, who was up against him, lost. It was really interesting to see that he was able to dominate invisibility, animal mimicry, and superhuman reflexes with his inhuman strength. He eventually lost though, against Emmett, who was then the new champion of the ring. After a lot more screaming, shouting, and cheering, the people started to clear out of the stadium and Emmett, who'd disappeared earlier, came out to join us, dressed and ready to go.

"It was so insane. I thought for sure he was gonna hit you straight on the head, but it just went through. And how you brought him down...just wow!" Chris gushed on our way back out. We passed all the different attractions again, but since I was desperate to get to Bella, I made them all move.

"Can't we look at the Capoeira for just a minute?" Rose and Chris whined, turning back every now and then.

"No," I barked strictly.

"Alice, I think Bella will be there all day, let us at least check out the fitness centre," Dylan suggested.

"Bella may be there all day, but our breaks aren't going to be at the same time again and I think you really wanna see that, or don't you?"

"Sometimes you're worse than Mom," Dylan grumbled.

"I take that as a compliment."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Bella was sliding gracefully in her dress over the ice, leaving everyone she passed in awe. It seemed like she had some kind of force around her, because not only did people move out of our way, but some of them actually bowed while Bella smiled pleasantly.

I was still stumbling on my skates, doing my best to seem as if I was incapable of ice skating. Jasper was being helpful and held on to me tightly so I couldn't fall.

"How does she do that?" Rose asked from beside me as she watched Bella practically float over the ice.

"It's like she's dancing or something," Emmett added, looking like the complete opposite of Bella.

Bella chose that moment to halt gracefully by twirling around before she stopped. "You really have to see the perfumery, it's like Heaven," she said with a smile on her face, gesturing toward the shop in front of us.

"Don't you have to enter first, your Majesty?" Edward asked her.

Bella rolled her eyes and then hooked her arm through his before she led him through the door. The rest of us followed the happy couple and were met with an unusual warmth in the icy shop.

"Shouldn't all this ice be melting?" Chris asked as we all took in the beautiful crystal decor.

"Oh, the inside is made up of glass, not ice," a girl who had been by the crystal shaped bottles on one of the glass shelves answered. "Wanna buy some eau de glace?" she then added, holding up one of those little bottles.

"A perfume," Chris said. "Really?"

"Sure, it's the princesses favourite."

"Cynthia, I don't think she ever even smelled it," Bella said to the girl with a sigh.

"You don't have to say that so loud. The main reason why I've sold so many of those is because it's the 'princesses favourite scent'," Cynthia whispered and then smiled at some customers on the other side of the room, who were all staring at Bella.

"And what does it smell like? Ice?" Rose asked sarcastically as she inspected a shelf with different cosmetics on it.

"Um...yes and no. Obviously ice doesn't have an exact smell, but we combined scents together – since, for humans, none in existence smell like ice – to create the perfume, and most of the other things here. The bathing crystals, for example. You throw them inside your bathtub and get an amazing ice-scented bubble bath. We also have lotions that go along with it as well as shampoos..." Cynthia immediately got carried away and I found myself engrossed by her words. She led me and Rose through her shop, pointing out different articles.

There was, for instance, a skin regenerating lotion, which wasn't entirely new on the market, but definitely had never been this affordable before, and I actually found myself liking this ice scent. It was hard to describe, but it somehow managed to really capture the essence of ice. It was a fleeting scent that was sharp in the first moment, but not so strong that it lingered. It was fresh and chilling and definitely different.

While the boys absentmindedly looked at the cosmetics for men, us girls decided to spend some money. Well, Bella didn't, but she would get everything anyway, seeing as she was the Queen.

We left the shop with little shopping baggies in our hands and apparently the word that the Queen had been shopping in here had got around, because quite a few people were lining up in front of the shop, all of them waiting to get a good look at Bella.

"It's like she's a celebrity or something," Emmett commented and waved at the surrounding people who were being kept at bay by a few people in blue that were some kind of royal security.

"This is really ridiculous. I haven't done that much today," Bella sighed and leaned her head against Edward's shoulder.

"What did you do to make everyone go this crazy?" Chris asked.

"Except for the water show? Well, I once overdid that one and actually raised every drop of water from that pool above their heads. I also helped fix one of the fountains by adding water to it, and I might have had some kind of dance session with Natalia on the ice of the pool."

"Oh, that's it?" Chris mumbled sarcastically and Bella grimaced at her.

"We also opened the doors of the castle in the morning, allowing everyone to come and gawk at me and Natalia in our thrones. Other than that, I just walked around the place with my little companions, who are currently helping out the others."

"Little companions?" I asked in confusion.

"If you keep your eyes open, you'll see that we have some sixth graders skating around here dressed as little elves or something," she answered with a giggle.

"You really put a lot of effort into this whole thing," Edward noted.

"We sure did."

Bella showed us every single shop and booth in this little ice city. Everything followed the ice scheme, although they had this one walk-through aquarium filled with the most beautiful fish I'd ever seen. The aquarium seemed to be some kind of tunnel that was connected to flowing waters beneath us. I noticed that they actually had a few mermaids in here as well. I didn't even bother to ask how they managed to pull that off – I was too awestruck.

Our last stop was what Bella called the 'workshop'. The line in front was long, but thanks to Bella's social status, we got in right away. The inside looked kind of similar to a pottery. It seemed to be just that, only they also made sculptures – of course made out of ice – here too.

"Hey, Bella, perfect timing," a boy called and waved her over to one of the work tables.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked.

"This little girl here wants an ice fairy," the boy told her, pointing at a little girl in front of him, who was holding tightly onto her mom's hand.

"Why aren't you making one?" Bella asked him.

"She wants it three times the size our water manipulators here can manage. I sent Christian over to Isaac so they can work faster on the pots, and I was just about to call for you."

Bella glanced at the little girl, who seemed to be entranced by Bella's beauty when she smiled at her, briefly. "So you only need me to shape right?" she asked the boy.

He nodded.

Bella freed her hands and held them above the table, closing her eyes in concentration. It seemed like everyone in the workshop knew that this was some kind of moment or they'd been watching the whole time. Either way, everybody was suddenly quiet.

I knew that Bella had become a lot more in control of what she does with the water that she contains, but seeing her now topped most of the things I've ever seen her do in class.

Her delicate hands seemed to glow for a moment and then slowly, little streams of water appeared on the backs of her hands. They moved around her hands, not dripping down until her entire hand was surrounded by a coat of water. It looked like she was wearing fitted gloves made of water.

Bella moved her hands to touch the table lightly before she lifted them slightly again. Between the surface she'd just touched, and her hands, she created more water as she lifted her hands higher. She held her arms in a straight line in front of her and the curled her fingers as if to disconnect the water from her hands. Where her hands just were, there was now a bar of water that she'd created. It was strange that the bar was still able to stand on it's own.

Bella looked at one of the sculptures close to the table before she moved her hands to the side of her water bar. She moved her hands in little wave-like motions, causing the water to move around. At first, I couldn't really make anything out, but then I saw that it was shaping itself.

First came the little pedestal on which the figure would stand, and then slowly, it built up. Starting with one leg, then the second, the body, the wings, and then finally, the hair.

The fairy was only a water shape now, but it was already beautiful. Bella shaped the flowing hair and then nodded at the boy beside her. He moved over to her and placed his hand on the head of the figure, effectively icing it and stopping any movement. The fairy Bella had created was different than the ones that stood around the room. Every other one was standing on one leg with their body tilted to the front as if to hug the person who stood in front of it. Bella's also stood on one leg, but in a dancer's pose with one hand in the air and the other one in the hair, which seemed to be flying around the fairy's head. The wings had a very delicate pattern on them and there seemed to be a glow coming from the middle of the sculpture.

Bella stepped away from her work, looking a little disorientated.

"Are you okay?" I heard Edward whisper quietly to her.

She nodded and simply leaned into him while the whole room suddenly erupted into applause. Bella smiled gratefully as the boy who'd iced her work seemed to be working a few spells on it before he handed it to the mother of the little girl. The girl smiled proudly when she saw what was now hers and then she ran up to Bella.

"Thank you so, so much, your Majesty!" she whispered gratefully and hugged Bella's legs tightly before she ran back to her mother.

"That had to be the coolest thing – in every sense of the word – that I have ever seen," Emmett boomed and grinned at Bella, who wasn't listening to him or anyone else who was complimenting her. Instead, she wore a dreamy smile on her face as Edward whispered something in her ear.

I knew they were having another one of their incredibly cute moments, partly because both of their expressions, and also because of the scowl on Chris' face.

Unfortunately, after Bella's amazing performance of her abilities, Jasper, Rose, Edward, and I had to take off. Bella and the other three accompanied us to the entrance. Again, everyone was gawking at Bella while Edward glared at quite a few guys who were no doubt having some nasty thoughts about his girl. I had to practically shove him out the door, otherwise he might have used those guys to make himself a new pair of ice skates.

Back at my tent, I quickly changed back into my black robe and went into my room. My tent was one of the smaller ones and had only two rooms in it. The one in which I sat in the middle of dark satin sheets and pillows with a glowing 'crystal ball' in front of me, and then the one in front with the counter and the waiting area. Jessica was the one who had been assigned to be my assistant, meaning she had to stand there and coordinate the stuff that was going on in front.

The rest of my day wasn't nearly as eventful as the first part, but still a lot of fun. Between working and having to deal with new stupid questions, some of them including Bella now and occasionally even Chris, I got out for my breaks. Once I met up with Jasper and we both tried out the tunnel of love. The illusionist there definitely did a good job with that one, creating different romantic scenes such as sitting on clouds and watching a sunset over a lightly rippling ocean.

My other break I spent with Edward, effectively saving him once more from a large group of fangirls who seemed to be a lot worse than the last ones. Unfortunately for Edward, he was the most wanted escort, not only because of his looks, but also because he knew exactly what his 'date' thought. Good for him, the escort service closed down early and so when his time came, he decided to hide out in the darkness of my tent for a while before he decided to go visit his Queen.

The first day of the fair ended a little too soon for my liking. Jasper and Emmett were waiting for me to walk back to the house with me since the others had apparently already left. Emmett informed us that his parents had visited him while he was teaching a wrestling class, and his father actually took part in the training. I merely shook my head at that. Emmett's father was sometimes a little too much like his son.

We entered the house and sure enough, the others were sprawled out in the living room.

"Dylan and I went to get clothes for each of us from our rooms," Rose announced when we walked through the door.

We only nodded.

"We officially survived day one," Bella noted, trying to make conversation.

"Yes, and you were awesome. You were more of a goddess than a queen," Emmett told her honestly.

Bella, who was back to her usual skin color, blushed at his words and mumbled her thanks.

"Well, tomorrow we get to terrorize Chris," Rose grinned evilly.

Chris didn't comment on that, but her expression showed that she wasn't very impressed.

"You know, I actually didn't get to hear much from the Pyros today," said Edward.

"Of course you didn't, we didn't really start today. We only had enough to peak people's interest to come back tomorrow," Chris told him.

"How did you do that?"

"It's quite easy, actually," she said. "People get curious when they see signs telling them that this particular part will open one day later."

"I bet you can't top our gorgeous goddess right here," Emmett teased her.

"We'll see," Chris said with a mysterious smile before she sent a taunting wink to her sister. "And for the record, Dylan is not my boyfriend."

"Nobody ever said he was," I said with raised eyebrows and Dylan looked at her in amusement.

"I know, but still, I want you to keep that in mind for tomorrow. Especially you, Dylan."

"Does that mean you won't cuddle with me tonight?" he asked with a pout.

"Are we keeping the sleeping arrangements?" Chris looked mainly at her sister and Edward as she asked this.

"Um, yes," Bella answered as if that had been obvious all along. She was sitting there comfortably with Edward's arms around her, looking at her sister with wide eyes.

Chris threw her hands up dramatically. "Fine. Just don't be all awkward like you were last time when you get poked by Edward's morning wood again."

Rose gasped audibly at her words while I giggled along with Jasper, who laughed quietly. Bella was most definitely blushing and even Edward showed a faint coloring on his cheeks as he buried his face in Bella's hair while Chris walked out of the room, clearly satisfied with herself. I could see a familiar glint in Emmett's eyes and I knew then that Bella and Edward would be in for a lot of teasing on his part.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed part one of the fair. Just so that you know, the fair is two weeks before they write their exams, which will take one week and then they'll have two more weeks of classes before the vacation starts. I thought this might be interesting to you. **

**At the end of the chapter I also came to realize that I probably already went over the boundaries of Rated T a couple of times, although it wasn't so bad, but seriously this whole rating thing is jsut confusing me. I mean, sure I read the ratings but that doesn't tell me what I'm allowed to say and what not. But since nobody complained and my beta ( a person that curses worse than a sailor) says it's all good, I guess I shouldn't be worried :)**

**Hmm...what else is worth mentioning? Not much really...**

**I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully I'm not going to take so long to finish.**

**So next chapter we are going to see what Chris is doing and some other parts of the fair and probably some more Water Queen things... I just don't know what else there could be at a magical fair? If you ahve any ideas just tell me, no matter how weird they are I can work with weird. **

**Anything else? Well, you should review just like you did the last time let me know if you have any ideas, tell everyone you know at FF how awesome this story is and try not to dream about Pete Doherty. ( I find him disgusting and scary) Alright, I love all of you mainly because you are still putting up with me and my weird ideas:) Love and cookies to all of you **


	20. Arabian Nights

_**A/N****: **_**First of all, I am very very very very very very sorry for the long wait. THe chapter has been done for weeks already, but there was a tiny little problem. You see usually when I wokr on ym chapters, I do it together with mey beta. I write a few hundred words and she betas them and in the end she sends me the whole betaed version of what I wrote, jsut because she is such a great person. Well that kind of didn't work out this time and suddenly I had this chapter done and she had to beta all of it at once. Apparently I write very long chapters...**

**Oh well, now it's here and you cna all rejoice. THe next chapter is already halway done and since the week end is coming, I am pretty positive that I will be done in the next few days :D**

**Well, I don't want to make you wait any longer so have fun reading!**

* * *

**Bella POV**

I heard Alice planning again before I even entered the kitchen.

"Seriously, why aren't you getting a break today?" she asked. I assumed she was talking to Chris.

I entered the room quietly and sat down at the table beside Edward.

"Morning," he murmured, flashing me his crooked grin and handing me the bread basket.

I smiled at him in return while Emmett watched us with curious eyes. I narrowed my own eyes at him, daring him to say something. Intelligently, he kept his big mouth shut, but the grin on his face also stayed.

_Thanks a lot, Chris..._

"I do have breaks, but it would make more sense if I stayed at our display rather than walked around. That's all I said. Jensen wants me around—"

"I don't care. You are going to take that yoga class with Rose, Bella, and me," Alice retorted.

I looked up in surprise. "Yoga? What yoga class, and don't I have to agree _before_ I take part?" I asked.

Alice just waved me off and mumbled, "As if there's anyway you could disagree."

"But I don't want to take a yoga class. What good would that do anyway?"

"It makes playing with the royal scepter a lot easier," Emmett commented and let out a booming laugh. Jasper snickered at his words while I just stared at him, unsure what he was talking about.

It didn't take me long to figure it out, and when I did, I glared at Emmett and then at Jasper.

"Alright, I'll go, but only if you go and kiss Pete Doherty," Chris challenged.

Alice narrowed her eyes at Chris who, in turn, stared back at her.

I looked at the two girls and then leaned toward Rose, who watched with an amused smile, to ask her, "Should I know what they're talking about?"

"A shapeshifter at the kissing booth," she answered simply.

"Right."

Alice interrupted the staring match with an evil grin. "Okay, you don't have to come with us," she said casually.

Chris eyed her suspiciously and the rest of us did the same. "What are you planning, pixie?" she asked slowly.

"Nothing," came Alice's light reply before she resumed her breakfast.

Chris looked at each of us in question, but we all shrugged, dismissing Alice's behaviour.

"Admit it, there's something evil going on in that head of yours," Chris accused.

Alice simply shook her head and then turned to me. "So Bella, when is your first break?

"It starts at half past twelve," I answered lazily.

"How long?"

"Two hours."

"That's great. Since we only ate Snow Balls together yesterday, I suggest that we eat lunch when we visit Chris," Alice sang excitedly. Nobody seemed to have anything against it, only Chris was still looking at Alice as if trying to figure out what she was thinking, which was probably exactly what she was doing.

I rolled my eyes at my sometimes—or rather, often—idiotic twin. It was obvious that Alice was only playing with her.

"Okay, so today's gonna be a little different," Alice started thoughtfully. "Emmett gets out first, and then Bella. After that, our two blondies, then me, and after that, our two lover boys."

_Lover boys?_

"Um, Alice?" I interrupted her thinking state.

"Yes?"

"Who exactly do you mean by 'lover boys'?"

Emmett guffawed at that while Rosalie shook her head at him. "You should know, Bella, after all, you are the only one here that's been acquainted with his magic stick," Emmett said, erupting in another round of laughter. Chris, Jasper, Dylan, and Rose joined in, while I was doing what I did best. Blushing.

I heard Edward sigh next to me and I noticed him shift, slightly uncomfortable. I looked up in surprise, only to find him glaring at Emmett, his cheeks dusted with a light pink.

I smiled fondly at that. He was cute when he blushed, even if that was usually my job.

"Didn't Edward tell you what he does at the fair?" Alice asked casually.

"No," I answered immediately, looking back at Edward, who was now looking anywhere but my direction.

Alice's head snapped up and she looked at her brother with a warning glare. "You didn't tell her?" she asked in disbelief.

"There was no occasion to do so," he answered simply.

"You didn't tell her?" Alice repeated.

"That's seriously messed up," Rose commented and took a bite of her sandwich while she shook her head in mock sadness.

"Nobody asked you, Rosalie," Edward hissed.

Rose's eyes widened before she glared at Edward.

"Eddie, if you don't want Rosie to tell Bella, in a very bold and not at all flattering way, what your job at the fair is, then you might want to consider being nicer to her," Chris piped from her seat.

Edward narrowed his eyes at her which didn't bother her too much.

This conversation confused me to no end, so I did the next logical thing. Since Edward wasn't saying anything yet, I simply let myself into Chris' mind. She seemed to have been expecting that and supplied me with all of the information she had on this subject.

"You're getting paid to date other girls?" I asked in disbelief.

Everyone, except for Chris of course, turned to me in surprise.

Rose giggled and mumbled something about prostitution. I was pretty sure my eyes widened at that.

"What?" Edward exclaimed. "No, it's not like that, I swear!" He sounded so desperate as he ran a hand through his unruly hair.

I merely raised my eyebrows.

"Chris, what did you do?" Alice asked quietly.

"All I did was think," she answered smugly.

"Bella, maybe you shouldn't believe your sister," Alice advised.

"So you _aren't_ getting paid to date other girls?" I questioned Edward.

"Well, yes, but not—"

"How many girls have you dated?" I inquired, shocked as I jumped from my chair and stared Edward down.

"Relax, Bella," Jasper murmured and instantly I did, though I was sure it was involuntary. But thanks to Jasper, I could no longer feel insecure, hurt, or confused.

"Okay, just let me explain," Edward mumbled slowly, waiting for me to let him continue.

I sighed, sat back down, and nodded.

"Alright, well it wasn't exactly my idea. I was voted into the whole escort thing. I have to pretend to date these girls and they pay for it. Basically I'm just accompanying them for a little while and letting them hold my hand, though I try to avoid it as much as possible. And I swear I tried to get myself out of it but Miriam is—"

"A jealous bitch," Alice barged into the conversation. "She just wants Edward and she knew that everybody would vote him into this escort thing. She only came up with it because of Edward."

"What does that mean?" Edward and I asked at the same time.

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. "She has some kind of obsessive crush on Edward and she was hoping that you'd break up with him since he is 'dating' half the female population."

"That's one of the stupidest things I've heard and I'm dating Emmett," Rose commented with a giggle and a smirk.

"Hey!" Emmett complained, starting to pout.

"Aw, baby, you know I didn't mean it in a bad way. I like your idiocy," Rose cooed.

"Right, well it's nice to hear that and all, but how come I didn't hear any of this earlier?" I said, mostly to Edward, but made sure to look at the others as well.

"It's not our job to tell you what Edward's doing," Jasper murmured with a shrug and the others made sounds and gestures of agreement.

I rolled my eyes at them and turned my attention back to Edward, who looked at me with a guilty expression painted on his face.

"It's just embarrassing," he said.

"That females are tearing each other apart to spend time with you?" Chris asked in disbelief. She definitely wasn't helping matters here.

I wasn't sure if I could have dealt with the fact that _my_ boyfriend was walking around the fair with other girls, pretending to be their date. But I was also rather uncomfortable with the thought of hordes of girls throwing themselves at my boyfriend, waving their money in his face and begging him to take their hands. I could only imagine how they'd be pulling each others hair, throwing themselves onto each other, and crying when Edward got close as if he were a superstar. Which, I guess in their worlds, he was.

They'd probably all be dressed in extremely revealing, skimpy outfits also to get Edward's attention, and eventually there would be some blond bombshell who looked like God himself would love to brag about creating her, and then Edward's heart would be flying right out of my hands and into hers. And then he would take her tanned hand, smiling that beautiful crooked smile of his, and then they'd walk into the sunset, thousands of heartbroken girls paving the way, and I'd be the last one the two of them stepped on. Oh how I hated the blond bimbo...

"Um, Bella?" I heard someone say and then felt someone shake me gently.

I blinked a few times and my eyes focused on Edward's worried face right in front of me.

"Bella, that was one nasty scene in your head right there," Chris called over.

Edward frowned at her words and then looked back at me. "Bella, this is ridiculous. I would never fall for some blond bimbo—" Emmett coughed something that sounded a lot like 'Tanya', "—and I would most definitely no stomp on you. You have nothing to worry about, I swear."

I didn't look at him. It was easy for him to say that now, since he hadn't seen the blond bimbo yet.

"No blond bimbo could be more amazing than you are," Edward whispered to me.

"No, but she could be prettier," I murmured back, still avoiding his eyes.

Edward chuckled quietly before he said, "That's highly impossible, Miss Swan. Not even your own twin sister is prettier than you." He paused for a second and a slight grin spread on his face before he winced. "Not to me at least," he added.

I ignored the warm fuzzy feeling that spread throughout my body and looked at Chris for a moment, only to find her staring at a spot on the wall. Her face was expressionless, but I just dismissed it.

"You sure about that?" I asked Edward in small voice.

"Positive."

"And when the blond bimbo appears?"

"I will run as fast I can into your arms," he told me with a serious face and leaned down to press his forehead to mine.

I giggled quietly, comforted by his words, and then leaned in and pecked him swiftly on the lips.

Apparently that wasn't enough for Edward, because when I was about to pull back, he pushed himself closer to me, holding my head in place so he could kiss me better.

"Mushy crap," Emmett mumbled, followed by a grunt of pain which was probably caused by Rose.

"I think it's cute," Alice said dreamily. "They might even be cuter than Jasper and me," she then added, panicked.

"Nobody can ever be cuter than you, darling," Jasper drawled charmingly.

Even though he was still kissing me, Edward managed to sigh while I suppressed a giggle.

This kiss wasn't even really a kiss anymore, since I was mostly just listening to the others, not even paying much attention to Edward's lips on mine. He seemed to notice that and tried his best to regain my attention. He almost succeeded, but then Dylan spoke up.

"I never thought I'd see the day my brother made-out with a girl at the breakfast table. It's too gross to be true," he said with a dreamy sigh that sounded like he was imitating Alice.

Chris sighed as well and said, "I know what you feel like."

Rose laughed quietly.

"So you know what he feels like, huh?" Emmett asked.

"Ugh, that is so not what I meant. Grow up, Emmett."

"But you really do know what I feel like," Dylan threw in and I could picture a smirk on his face.

"I also know what it feels like to sleep next to you. I had to bury myself underneath a mountain of pillows to drown out your snoring."

"You didn't seem to mind a couple of days ago." I heard the smug tone in his voice.

The mental curses that flew through Chris' head at that moment caused me to laugh again. Edward gave up trying to get any response from my lips now. He sighed, swiftly kissed my forehead, and then turned to glare at the rest of the group.

"Finally coming up for air?" Chris asked sarcastically.

"Not if you would have kept your mind silent," grumbled Edward and I laughed at the expression on his face.

The rest of our breakfast resumed without any mention-worthy things, and soon we were all out the door to start day two of the fair.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"He was ready to jump into your lap," Natalia wheezed and then continued laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Cynthia, who was currently wiping the makeup off of my face, looked at me in question.

I shook my head at her, not really in the mood to tell her what was so amusing to Natalia.

It wasn't even that funny. We had the castle doors open for the two hours, allowing people to come and see me and Natalia, talk to us, take pictures, and so on. We'd actually only planned one hour for this, but the line that had formed in front of the entrance was so long that we ended up sitting there longer, which meant that I didn't get to do my water show and I really really wanted to. It's not that I don't like people telling me how they appreciated our hard work, but I couldn't stand being the centre of attention. The good thing was, I wasn't exactly myself and it wasn't even expected of me to say anything or even smile.

Bryce had told me that my whole stiff posture was blending in perfectly with the ice theme. I was glad that my discomfort fit so well with the scenery.

I didn't mind the water show, since I was in my element there and felt more at ease twirling around in the water than sitting on these icy thrones. The ice was just another kind of water, and even though it was frozen, I still felt the energy of it as it pulsed through me. It was really frustrating to have this much energy, yet be unable to do anything with it. And even worse was being tied to a chair, listening to people tell me how much they loved me and my country. Yes, country. I refrained myself from telling them that this was barely even a town, and even if it was, it didn't have a name.

I never would have dreamed that we would get so many fans. I received presents and letters and so many people insisted on bowing to me and Natalia. It was weird. Apparently if you tell people that someone was royal, they believed it without a second thought because that's exactly how people treated us. What I found even more confusing was that there was more attention on me than on Natalia.

Natalia said that I had a powerful aura around me and I wondered if people could sense the energy that surrounded me. But I still found it confusing. Natalia spoke to a lot more people than I did, and she was showing off her skills much more often than me, although I had to hold a water mass in place today because our pool crashed on one corner.

The reason why Natalia was laughing like a hyena was because the last guy who'd confessed his undying love to me. Apparently he was a student here and was already in college. I'd made a mental note to ask Dylan if he knew the guy. Well, this guy had not only cried when he'd finally been standing in front of me, but he'd also insisted on touching my hand at least once. When this was granted to him, he decided that he wanted to kiss my feet as well and my "security guards" had to wrestle him away from me—he'd almost chewed my boots off. When I told them to get him out so I could finally go on my break, he cried even harder and rambled on about an angels voice.

Natalia, of course found all of this absolutely hilarious, while I was at a loss for words. It's not everyday you get this amount of devotion.

After the makeup was finally off of my face, Cynthia put on some other stuff. Although I would be on break, I was supposed to keep some of my "royal charm." Japree insisted on that when he'd heard that I was planning to visit my sister today. He wanted to lure more people to our display, especially those who were hanging around at the Pyros. So I got to wear some kind of white pant suit that flowed around, similar to a dress really, and got some other kind of icy makeup which didn't make me look as frozen as the one I'd had to wear all day.

"Hey, where's my favorite queen?" a voice suddenly boomed, interrupting any peace and quiet that had been left in here, though there wasn't all that much since Natalia still had yet to shut up. Emmett appeared behind me and all I could do was stare at him in the mirror in front of me. "How is the fairest of them all?" he asked with a huge grin.

"How would I know? Ask Rose when we get to see her," I retorted.

Emmett rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath that I didn't quite catch, and Cynthia made a sound from my side, but I hardly paid attention to her.

Now that Emmett had walked in here, I was definitely anxious to get out of the ice town. I hadn't even been able to see the rest of the fair yet and I'd started to feel like Alice on Christmas day, which was not good. Not good at all.

Emmett started walking around in the dressing room, lurking through things. After five minutes, he got bored. "How long does it take to put glitter on her face? And why does she even have to wear it? She's already drop dead gorgeous without it and it's not like we're going to a ball, we're just going to walk around and have some fun. No need to go all overboard for that," he eventually complained.

"Well I'm sorry, but she's the Queen. Besides, Bryce isn't too happy that her sister walked around in her Sari here yesterday, promoting the Pyros," Cynthia snapped.

"Ah, who cares about your stupid little competition? I want my Belly now!" Emmett whined and actually stomped his foot like a petulant child. It looked completely ridiculous, given his size.

"You should care about this 'little competition'," Natalia barged in.

"Why?"

"The councils are deciding whether or not to let everyone take part, since this is the first year in a long time where every display could actually have a fair chance. Everyone seems to be doing a good job, so maybe this won't be just Hydros vs. Pyros," she explained.

"And what do the winners get?" I asked, my curiosity haven been spiked.

"We don't have any ideas for that yet, which is why we haven't really decided if we're going to do it or not. I don't really care, no matter who takes part, the Pyros still can't beat us."

"Yeah! Hydros all the way!" Emmett cheered, causing Natalia to smile fondly at him.

I think it was the first time I'd ever seen her smile at a guy. In my time with the Hydros, I'd learned that Natalia had a very man-hating attitude. She could tolerate them, as long as they were on a leash and far away from her. But as soon as she had to interact with males, she was anything but polite. She was somewhat nice to Japree, but that involved more nonchalance than actual nice gestures.

"All done," Cynthia finally announced and I nearly jumped out of my chair.

Emmett was just enthusiastic as me, and we both quickly made our way outside to go get Rose and Jasper.

"So..." I said with a smile beginning to spread on my face. "You think I'm drop dead gorgeous, huh? Just wait until Rose hears that," I teased Emmett.

"I'm sure she won't mind because, even if you are drop dead gorgeous, she's drop-dead-and-go-straight-to-heaven gorgeous," Emmett answered with a goofy grin on his face.

"Aw," I cooed. "How sweet."

"I know, I'm _real_ man candy."

I rolled my eyes at the big teddy bear at my side.

"Should we really go in there? We could just wait for Rosie and Jazz to get out," Emmett asked me when we stood in front of the Specials labyrinth. Alice and Chris had told us that they'd almost won, but then failed when they were up against Rose.

Chris claimed that they would've won if they'd had the help items like everyone else. Rose only told her it was wishful thinking and that nobody had been able to get passed her yet.

Let's see if Emmett and I can make it.

"I think we should, maybe we're better than Alice and Chris," I said to him, which seemed to motivate him easily.

"We should have bet against them or something," he said and rubbed his large hands together, eager at the thought of a competition.

I laughed lightly and shook my head at him.

When we entered the labyrinth, I looked at the items that Emmett had greedily pulled out of a little sack. We had a pair of earplugs for each of us, a mirror, and pheromone blockers. Luckily I carried a purse on my arm, so I quickly stuffed the things into it before Emmett yanked on my arm to pull me inside like an excited child.

At the first junction, he came to a stop.

"Can't decide?" I asked him bemusedly when I saw him turn his head from one direction to the other.

"Maybe we should just go through the wall," Emmett suggested.

"Do I have to come along?"

"Aw, don't be like that, Belly Bean," Emmett cooed and tucked me under his arm, ignoring my protests.

Walking, or rather being pulled through a wall was definitely not one of my more pleasant memories.

"Whoa, dude, that's freaky," a voice spoke up when we made it through the wall. When I looked up, I saw a startled boy in a toga.

Emmett eyed him and then laughed before he asked the boy, "Does everyone have to wear a dress in here?"

"It's not a dress, it's a toga," the guy said defensively.

"Sure it is. Makes your legs look great."

The boy opened his mouth, just to close it again as he looked down at his legs.

I sighed as Emmett broke into another peal of laughter.

"You might wanna shut up," the boy said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm Justin and I'm the God of Laughter. You have to remain silent for the next two minutes, and since I can see that it'll be a challenge for one of you, I'll let you pass if at least one of you manages to stay quiet." His eyes darted to me and a slight grin appeared on his face.

"We just have to be quiet?" Emmett asked in disbelief.

Justin smiled sarcastically at him. "Your time starts now."

Emmett opened his mouth, but I nudged him lightly and he snapped it shut.

Justin's lips quirked into a mocking smirk as he looked at Emmett. "Why does a blonde climb up a window?"

I lifted an eyebrow at him.

"She wanted to see what's behind it," Justin continued with the punchline.

This was the kind of joke that made me roll my eyes, but for some strange reason, the urge to laugh came over me. I pressed my lips together to suppress the laugh. Emmett did the same, but was obviously having a harder time since he actually found the joke funny.

Justin just continued his questions. "Did you hear about the guy who studied for his blood test and still failed it?"

Emmett let out a semi-snort and I couldn't help but grin, but I bit down on my lip to prevent any kind of laughter from leaving my mouth. Justin was already eyeing Emmett, probably waiting for him to break.

"What does a brunette miss about a good party?"

Emmett looked at Justin expectantly.

"An invitation."

Emmett started shaking with silent laughter while I just bit my lip harder. This definitely wasn't a natural reaction.

"Do you know the joke about the idiot who always shakes his head?"

Emmett shook his head and I suppressed the snort that threatened to escape, and instead concentrated on breathing.

"Hey, do you want to hear a dirty joke?" Justin asked.

Emmett—the idiot—nodded eagerly.

"A white horse fell in the mud."

Now he'd done it. Emmett laughed so loudly that I cringed. Sometimes I thought you needed earplugs to be around Emmett.

The figurative train hit me so hard I thought I'd have a concussion.

I quickly rummaged through my purse while Justin was a little distracted by Emmett's incredibly loud laughing fit. I blocked my ears with the plugs and was happy to realize that they weren't ordinary. I was immediately surrounded by calming music.

Justin turned to me and said something. I saw Emmett laugh at what he'd said, but since I couldn't hear a single word of it, I just smiled pleasantly at him. Justin frowned and said something else. I read the words 'Dad', 'idiot', and 'no'.

I guess I'm not a very good lip reader.

Justin glanced down at his watch and then frowned with a sigh before he gestured in the direction the aisle continued.

Emmett pulled me along again and then said something.

I took the earplugs out and looked at him. "What was that?"

He narrowed his eyes at me and then pointed an accusing finger. "You had the earplugs in!" he exclaimed dramatically.

I just grinned and shrugged in response.

"You cheated," Emmett said with a pout.

"Don't act like you're sad about it. If I'd given you earplugs, you would have just taken them out to hear what Justin said."

"True," Emmett said and smiled. "That guy was damn funny."

"If you think so," I answered absentmindedly.

"Oh come on, you have to admit he was funny, even if he's got nothing on me." Emmett puffed out his chest.

"Sure," I said slowly.

Emmett sensed my scepticism and started telling me hundreds of jokes as we made our way through the aisles.

I think I actually snickered when Emmett said, "Hey man, call me a taxi. Yes sir, you are a taxi."

My giggles were cut short, though, when I saw a familiar blonde. I think I might have stopped breathing for a second. "Irina," I hissed quietly, gaining Emmett's attention immediately. I saw him tense up and when Irina looked up, I could swear I heard something like a growl escape his lips.

Irina smiled cruelly at us for a second before it was suddenly replaced by that awfully sweet smile that I already knew so well.

I discovered the reason for that a moment later when a boy with very curly hair peeked out from behind her, though he was taller. He had a slightly green tint to his complexion and I guessed that he was the person that I'd heard of a couple of times.

"Hello," he greeted cheerfully. "I'm Mark and this is Irina, we're the Gods of Nature and your task is to get passed us."

Neither Emmett or I had reacted in any way yet, when suddenly the two of them made ranks grow everywhere in the aisle behind them, blocking the way.

By the time they were done, it was like some extreme jungle or something.

"Please tell me you have one of those jungle knives," Emmett begged while Irina and Mark stood next to their work, smiling like salespeople.

"Sorry, that wasn't part of the equipment we got," I told him.

"Ah, well we can just walk through then," Emmett said dismissively and pulled me close to him.

"Do we have to phase through it? It's not exactly comfortable," I complained.

"Do you have a better idea?" he asked, obviously waiting for me to give in.

I grinned briefly at him before I channelled my concentration on the familiar sound of water. The millions of ranks were all filled with it and I could feel the energy strengthening me. I took a deep breath and ordered the water inside the ranks to move out of our way.

I hadn't been too sure if it'd work, but seeing all the ranks slowly moving out of our way almost made me giddy.

"I thought you were the Water Queen, not Mother Nature," Emmett commented.

I giggled. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"I'm sure there aren't. Chris always seems to have very interesting information." I could practically hear him waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I sighed. Of course this had to come up sometime, there was no way that Emmett would let this go. I'd have to make sure to get back at Chris for that.

"Ah, yes, it's always cute to watch a sexually inexperienced couple slowly discover the best part about a relationship," Emmett hummed.

I just stared at him for a while before I spoke. "You're not really telling me that the best part about your relationship with Rose is the physical aspect, are you?"

"What? No, of—"

"I'm going to tell Rose that and that you laughed at the blonde jokes, and I'm also going to tell her that you think I'm drop dead gorgeous, an—" I stopped my rant when I finally let Emmett's words go through my mind again. "Is Edward, um...err..."

"A virgin?" Emmett asked loudly, of course not without laughing at the same volume. This boy just wasn't capable of keeping anything at a normal human volume.

Thanks to his shouting and the echo in these halls, I heard his words practically ring in my ears. I wasn't exactly good with any kind of sex talk, and I certainly wasn't comfortable with talking about that subject so casually.

Chris called me a prude because of that, but I couldn't help that these kind of things always made me blush. It wasn't that I thought of the whole thing in a bad way or anything, it just wasn't something I occupied myself with. But then again, I never really had any kind of long-term relationship with an older guy. Oh no, I almost forgot that Edward was older...

I recalled a stupid sex conversation that Raven, Chris, and I'd once had, even if I'd only been part of this by force.

"_If you, my hot little chicas, ever date an older guy, just make sure your parents don't catch you buying condoms because you sure as hell will need them. Older guys always want to—"_

"_Is this conversation really necessary?" I interrupted Raven's speech, which had already been going on for about an hour now._

"_Yes, it is. I feel like talking about s—"_

"_So do it. In your own home. Without me."_

_Raven laughed and Chris hummed quietly. She didn't always laugh at me and call me a prude, mostly because she usually reacted in a similar manner as me when she was talking about anyone but herself._

"_Let's talk about sex, baby," Raven sang._

_The book in my hands came up and smacked me in the forehead. Why was I friends with her again?_

"_Oh, come on, Bella. You're acting as if I'm talking about how to build a Molotov cocktail. Sooner or later, you're going to be with a guy that you totally adore, and then at some point, you'll have this incredible moment in which you realize that he's all you'll ever want and that you'd give your life, your soul, and even your favorite pair of shoes for. And when that moment comes, not only will you give your V-card to him, but you'll practically shove it in his face, tearing the clothes off your body, licking his abs—"_

"_Rave, your point?" Chris threw in. Raven had been getting carried away again and sometimes, like now, it started to lean a little toward the scary side._

_Raven cleared her throat and smoothed her hair, which she'd mussed in the progress of her lecture, back down. "All I'm saying is that one day, you will be grateful for this talk, 'cause I just taught you girls more than we have ever learned in Sex Ed."_

"_I listened to less than half of that," I told her dryly, looking back down at my book._

_Raven snatched the book from my hands and when I looked up, I saw her very angry face. "I told you everything that I know about first times and boys and jealous ex-girlfriends, and you didn't even listen? You just hurt my feelings, Isabella Swan, and when the time comes, don't you dare come running to me to ask for my advice because I will not give it to you. I will let you stand outside my door, in the pouring rain, and beg for my forgiveness."_

Ah, yes, Raven. Such a drama queen. I honestly don't know how we even managed to get the craziest of all people to be our best friend. Although I wasn't too sure if there was anyone who could top Alice.

"Bella, did you even listen to anything I just said or were you just staring off into space and concentrating on your blush?" Emmett asked.

"I'm not blushing," I replied defensively.

"And the red just got darker." I felt more blood rush into my cheeks at his words. "It's either crazy or fascinating how hard a person can blush just because I said that your boyfriend is a virgin."

By now I was thinking that Emmett was just waiting for my head to explode or pop off.

"And there she goes again," Emmett said with a sigh. "Chill, Bella, it's not like I was saying anything dirty. You probably won't even have any kind of dirty talk any time soon. If Edward is anything like Alice, it could actually take years. But then again, Alice and Jasper were a different age when they started going out. I have a feeling that—"

"Why are we talking about this?" I cut him off.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Oh, come on, Bella, let's talk about sex, baby," he started singing.

I let out a frustrated groan and cast a brief look to Heaven, praying for some kind of miracle to release me. Any kind of miracle.

"Hello, my name is Jaden and I am the God of Shadows. All you have to do is free yourself from my claws," I heard a voice suddenly speak.

I guess this could be classified as a miracle.

"What claws?" Emmett asked.

"These," Jaden answered dramatically but I saw nothing happening. There were no claws growing out of his hands or anything of the sort.

Emmett and I looked at each other in confusion and then back at Jaden, who sighed and shook his head at us.

"Look down," he ordered.

We did and I saw nothing unusual on the floor.

"Are we waiting for claws to come out of the ground?" Emmett asked Jaden.

Jaden made a sound of frustration. He lifted his right arm and by some kind of force that was definitely not coming from me, my arm lifted as well.

When I wanted to turn my head to look at Emmett, I realized that I couldn't do it. I lost complete control of my body motions.

"It's shadow control. In my opinion your shadow is something like your second personality," Jaden explained and then folded both of his hands in front of him. I mimicked the motion instantly. "Oh yeah, you have one minute to complete this task."

"Thanks for telling us that," Emmett said sarcastically. Either he was not trapped or we were able to move our lips on our own accord. Judging by the fact that I could also look in every direction that I wanted, I guessed it was the latter.

"No need, it's not like you'll get out of it," Jaden replied cockily.

"Right, we'll talk about that later," Emmett answered.

Since I couldn't look at Emmett I didn't know why Jaden's expression suddenly changed into one of surprise.

But when I suddenly felt hands grabbing my ankles and then felt how my body was again pulled into some kind material, I knew that Emmett had simply phased into the ground and now pulled me down as well.

Phasing into the ground was definitely worse than just going through a wall. I didn't see anything and felt like I was being pressed together. Emmett led me and a few seconds later I was glad that we resurfaced.

We were behind Jaden now, who twirled around in surprise.

"You were saying...?" Emmett said with a smug smirk.

"You may proceed," Jaden answered with a sigh and then turned away from us.

"Good job, Emmett," I complimented the big bear, who in turn grinned proudly at me.

"Only did what I do best," he replied.

"Well, since Alice and Chris only had four tasks, I would say that we have one more left."

"And with my brains and skills, and your looks, we will definitely win this game."

"Your brains and skills?"

"And your looks, although I've got those too."

I shook my head at him, smiling to myself.

A couple of minutes later, I saw a boy sitting on the floor. After a few more steps I recognized him as Jasper.

"Jasper!" Emmett and I called, though Emmett was a lot louder than me.

Jasper looked up, completely at ease, and grinned at us. "Hey guys, I didn't think you would make it this far," Jasper greeted.

I snorted. "We wouldn't have made it without Emmett's brains, skills, and good looks."

Jasper raised his eyebrows at that, looking at Emmett questioningly.

He just shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just awesome like that."

"Right," Jasper said slowly, "Anyway, as you can see the door is over there and all you have to do to go through it as winners is ace my test. I'm the God of Emotions and all you have to do is meditate with me."

"Meditate?" I asked, surprised.

Jasper smiled gently. "Yes, although I have to say it won't be that easy. You have to stay calm and relaxed. You cannot feel anything else but that for 45 seconds."

"Do we have to sit on the floor as well?" Emmett asked.

"Doesn't matter if you sit or not, you aren't going to be able to do it anyway," Jasper replied, earning a giggle from me as I made myself comfortable on the floor.

Emmett didn't respond to Jasper's remark as he dropped himself on the floor as well.

"Alright, you ready?" Jasper asked.

"Do both of us have to pass?" I asked him.

"No, one will be enough. You are allowed to use any kind of helping item or your gifts to help you just like before."

I grinned at his words. I thought back to the one day when I had purposefully cut myself off of any emotions. I wondered if I was able to do the same thing right now.

I took a deep breath and listened for the familiar whispers. Naturally I didn't have to wait long and soon the calming energy was spreading in my whole body.

"I guess we can start," I heard Jasper say.

I had my eyes closed and didn't bother to open them as I nodded at him. I left my eyes closed and just concentrated on the water that I had running through me. Something was different than the last time I had been in this state.

As calm and collected as I felt, there was also an intense power lying somewhere beneath. It felt like there was something yearning to reach out, but I couldn't think too much about that.

I also noticed that my connection with my element had gotten stronger.

I could feel the water that was buried in the ground very deep beneath us. It was calling to me and I was all too willing to give in. Something in my powers had changed over the last few weeks and it probably had to do with me using my powers more frequently and freely. But still, there was something wrong in all of this.

And even though my mind was almost spinning, my emotional state didn't change, but when Jasper announced that the time was up, I gladly let go of the water. I had a feeling that I was starting to become dangerous as well, like Chris. I didn't think too much about it, though, and instead turned my attention to Jasper.

"Emmett, you failed after two seconds," he said calmly.

"I did not," Emmett argued.

Jasper only sighed in response. "Anyway, Bella, you made it which means that both of you officially won. Congratulations, you are our first winners so far." Jasper got up and grinned at us, before he turned to the door and opened it. "We've got two winners," he announced as he stepped into the room behind the door. Emmett and I followed.

A group of people was in there, Rosalie among them and all of them started mumbling in surprise.

"How the hell did they win?" Rose exclaimed.

"Aw, Rose, babe, you know that I am brilliant at everything that I do," Emmett responded.

Before Rose could reply to that a boy came up to us and smiled in amusement. "Well, from what I have seen on the monitors, you seem to have a pretty brilliant sidekick," he said, looking intently at me.

"Sidekick?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

Emmett threw an arm around my shoulder. "Yes, you are my sidekick, didn't you know?"

"I think you are mistaking me with my sister," I replied dryly.

"I would never mistake a beautiful and brilliant lady such as yourself," Emmett said in a fake French accent.

"I'll be sure to talk to Chris about you thinking she's not beautiful and brilliant."

"Jeez, you sure are a snitch today."

"It's what I do best," I said with a grin.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt your conversation, but since you won...we kind of have a program for that," the boy interrupted.

"Do we really have to do that?" Rose whined.

"Yes, you signed up for it, so do it."

"I didn't sign up, I was forced to be here."

"Whatever, Hale. Just get your ass over to the others. And you better be singing loud enough for me to hear you."

Rose scowled, but went to stand next to Jasper, who was already standing in line with the other kids in the room.

Emmett and I looked at each other before we looked back at them.

They all stood there in a row looking much like a choir...in togas.

That was probably the sense because suddenly the all started singing.

_Celebration_

I looked at Emmett, but he was currently absorbed by the solo part of the boy who had talked to Rose a few seconds ago.

_Let's all celebrate and have a good time_

I had to admit that the boy had a decent voice.

_Celebration_

_We going to celebrate and have a good time_

_It's time to come together_

_It's up to you, what's your pleasure_

_Everyone around the world_

_C'mon!_

And then suddenly music started playing, balloons and confetti started falling from the ceiling, while the 'choir' started dancing.

_Yahoo! It is celebration_

_Yahoo!_

_Celebrate good times, c'mon!_

_It is a celebration_

_Celebrate good times, c'mon!_

_Let's celebrate_

They kept repeating this part of the song and while I watched this absolutely perfect High School Musical moment, I felt tears rising in my eyes.

Eventually I couldn't hold them in and I downright cried with laughter. I had never seen Jasper sing and dance before and it just seemed so weird. The same goes for Rose, but that wasn't nearly as funny as seeing Jasper with a fake smile, clapping to the rhythm and moving his feet. My laughter got worse when I saw him actually getting into the whole thing. I held onto Emmett for support, but he was howling with laughter as well and eventually it stopped raining balloons on us and they stopped their little party only to watch Emmett and me holding unto each other gasping for air in between our laughter.

"Please tell me I just imagined that," Emmett wheezed out.

"I..think...it was...real," I gasped out, shaking with another round of laughter.

"Right, if the two of you are done any time soon, you should pick the Gods of your choice. You can choose two, one for each. So if you still got some business with someone, you might wanna chose that person," the boy interrupted our laughing fit.

"Oh yeah, we can chose slaves right?" Emmett asked.

The boy only nodded.

"I'll take Rose," I quickly shouted.

"No way, I wanted Rose!" Emmett complained.

"Well, I'm not so sure if you would still want her after I told her that you laughed at blonde jokes."

"What?" Rose shrieked.

"I will always want her, she just might not want me anymore," Emmett replied and then grinned meaningfully at Jasper, who knew that this was not a good thing.

"I'm guessing that you chose both of the Hales?" the boy questioned.

"Yes," Emmett and I answered right away.

"Well, then congrats. Be nice to them, they will only be yours for today."

Emmett already rubbed his hand together evilly and looked at Jasper.

I only rolled my eyes at him.

"Let's go and get changed," Rose sighed to her brother and pulled him along.

"We'll be waiting outside," Emmett called after her and we left the party room.

"You know what? Our clique is really a little weird. We are all siblings and couples," I noted on our way out.

"True, but I'm the only McCarty, which makes me special."

"Yes, yes, you are oh-so very special," I said as if I was talking to a little child.

"The way you say it makes it sound as if I'm crazy."

"Oh, you're not?"

Emmett pulled a grimace at me.

It didn't take Rose and Jasper long to get changed and a few minutes later we were already making our way through the Psychs display. Since I hadn't gotten to see it ever before, I was probably acting a lot like a little child, gaping at everything, pointing, laughing and so on.

I got to see the kissing booth that the others were talking about earlier and also a stand that was called "Fly On A Magic Carpet!"

"Yesterday it was 'Fly With Peter Pan'," Rose commented.

"So where do we find Alice?" Emmett asked.

"Her tent is right beside the Cake Bakery," Jasper said.

"Oh, I saw that one yesterday. I really have to get a cake there," Rose said.

"Why? It's just cake," I asked her.

"No, it's not. It's the closest I can get to the Halloween Pumpkin pie. It's explosive. You can get whatever flavor you want and it will explode in your mouth. It's awesome," Rose sighed dreamily.

"Okay, I guess it's not just cake."

Sure enough, when we passed the bakery there was a huge line in front of it.

Alice came skipping to us out of nowhere holding a box in her hand. "You need to try this! I knew Rose wanted some so I got this cake earlier today. It's called Raspberry Madness and it's one of the greatest madnesses of my life. Also, I think you look really great, Bella, and you shouldn't be smiling at those guys who come to see you in your castle. About half of them came to me today and asked if that meant something more and if they had chances. The funny thing is, though, I think you and Edward got competition. It seems like quite a few girls are discovering their soft spot for Dylan once more, even though Edward is still the number one escort thanks to his mind reading, and I have to say that your sister got quite a few guys attention. It also seems like Kate is a general hottie, since she won a wrestling match against Emmett today. Luckily nobody got to see Jasper in his toga otherwise I would have chopped a couple of heads off today already. And did you know that Jessica rented first Dylan and then Edward as an escort and she tried to kiss them both? Dylan disappeared into thin air when she did that and Edward ran for his life. Stupid bitch is now moping around in my tent, crying on and on about how the Cullen boys should pay more attention to her. I think that Lauren is going to do something equally stupid and if I were you, Bella, I would make sure to be there when she tries any funny things on your man. See, that's the good thing about having a boyfriend who works in a labyrinth that nobody seems to get through, I get to keep him all to myself. By the way—"

"Alice, shut up!" Emmett, Rose, and I yelled.

Alice had just walked up to us and started talking all the while she was shoving the cake into our face and led us into the opposite direction passed quite a few interesting stands.

How could a person even talk that much without taking a breath?

Alice had snapped her mouth shut only to start pouting. Jasper had an arm around her to comfort her, but that bottom lip started to tremble.

I sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"Ali, never mind them. I care a lot about what you have to say," Jasper said to her.

Of course that made her face light back up and she continued her rant. "So, I had this incredible vision of the Pyros display and I must say I'm impressed. I think Bella is dressed most perfectly for the weather and I also think that we might have to keep Dylan in check. Actually scratch that, you boys should watch little Chris, because unlike Bella Boo, she doesn't have security guards. Oh and did you guys hear that the councils are thinking about making a little competition between all the groups? The only problem is that they don't have a prize for the winner yet, so it might not be done. Personally I think it would be great, but it's not that important. What is important is the ending ball on Friday. I still don't have anything to wear and that is tragic. By the way, I don't get why they are calling it a ball if it is more of a party. Which reminds me..." Alice took a huge breath before she continued, "Bella, what are you going to wear for prom?"

I blinked. "Um, what?" I asked her dumbly.

"Prom? Prohooom," Alice sang. "You know...prom, short for promenade, a formal dance or gathering in high schools. It is typically held near the end of the senior year."

"Thanks, Alice, I'm aware of the definition of prom, but as you just pointed out, it is held at the end of the senior year, so I don't get why you are asking me about prom now. We still have a couple of years," I noted.

Both Alice and Rose let out a disappointed sigh and shook their heads.

"Both you and Rose are going to prom, you should really know these things," Alice scolded.

"And why are we going to prom?" I asked, more than just confused.

"Because I gotta bring my hot mama for the junior prom," Emmett boomed. He wrapped his large arms around Rose and placed a fat kiss on her cheek. She pulled a grimace, but couldn't hide the smile on her face.

"That's great and all, but uh, what does it have to do with me?" I asked Alice.

Alice groaned and looked at me as if I was an idiot. "Obviously you are going to the senior prom, duh."

When I only quirked an eyebrow at her she shook her had and mumbled something about 'self-proclaimed genius'.

"Edward is a senior," she said slowly, as if talking to a retarded person, not that I have anything against retarded people. "As a senior, he will attend the senior prom. It is quite common to bring a date for the prom, and since you are Edward's girlfriend, you will be going to prom with him."

"Ah," I hummed in understanding, but didn't say anything else.

"Well?" Alice demanded harshly.

"Well, what? I think you might want to wait for Edward to actually ask me."

"Details, details. The whole world knows that you will be going to prom with him, so you might wanna start thinking about the right dress. The senior prom will be one week after our final exams and knowing you, you will spend the time before the exams actually studying."

"You make it sound like that is a bad thing."

"It's not unless you start thinking about prom too."

"But what if Edward doesn't even want to go to prom? I think I'll wait until he actually asks me."

"Ask you what?" the velvety voice of Edward asked.

I hadn't even realized that we had stepped into a little shop until I stood in front of the counter and saw Edward standing behind it.

Somehow Alice had not only distracted me enough to watch where we were going, but I had also successfully ignored the huge line of girls next to us. Girls of all age groups, I might add. Well, maybe not all. It started with 13 and went up to...oh Jesus was that woman for real? Oh wait, it was more than just one.

Well, apparently it went up to you-could-be-my-granny's-granny's-age.

The were all reaching out for Edward, while at the same time they were shoving each other to buy something from a girl there. It looked like she was selling t-shirts. When I looked closer I noticed that she was selling 'Team Edward' shirts with a picture of him on it. I frowned at the fact that about a thousand girls got that beautiful face and the adorable lopsided grin for themselves now. But then again, for now I was the only one with the original.

"So what am I supposed to ask you?" Edward asked again over the noise of screaming fan girls.

"Hmm?" I replied absentmindedly.

Alice sighed next to me before she hissed, "Proooom."

"Oh. Yeah, right. You have to ask me to your prom," I said boldly.

Suddenly the whole fan girl screaming stopped and Edward looked at me with a surprised expression.

Everyone was staring at me, including the girl who was selling these ridiculous t-shirts and I had a feeling that she was the Miriam girl that I had heard about before.

The sudden silence and all those eyes on me made me blush. No matter how many hours I had spent as a queen, I would never get used to people staring at me, especially not in awkward situations like these.

"Well, you don't have to, it's just that Alice asked me what I was going to wear for prom and I didn't know what she was talking about and then she had to explain it to me, telling me that you would have your senior prom soon and that you would probably take me along and I said that you might not even go and even if you did you would have to ask me first to go to prom with you otherwise there is no sense in picking out a dress. So that is why I said you'd have to ask me first, even though I don't think you have to. We live in a modern world, so I could actually ask you as well, but you know it's your prom and I didn't want to spoil it for you, so yeah. You don't have to ask me or anything, it was just..." I let my voice trail off, knowing that I was already talking too much. Hanging out with Alice was not healthy.

A couple of girls giggled at my stupid ranting, Miriam being one of them. Tanya suddenly stood behind her and they were whispering something to each other. What was Tanya doing here?

"Um, Bella," Edward started, but I interrupted him.

"Oh no, I'm sorry if I took you by surprise. You really don't have to decide anything now—"

"Yes, he does," Alice piped in.

"—it's okay if you don't answer or ask or whatever right away. I don—"

"Bella, would honour me with the privilege of being my prom date?" Edward asked me in a serious tone, cutting of any rant that was going to come.

I looked at him with wide eyes before I looked down. "That was a bit cheesy, don't you think?" I mumbled quietly.

He stepped close to me and wrapped his arms around me. He was laughing quietly as he whispered, "It was the best way to make all of these girls jealous. They all seem to wish they could be you right now."

"So you only did it for show, huh?"

"I might have phrased it the same way if were were alone, although I had almost forgotten about prom," he admitted quietly.

Alice had of course been listening and wrenched herself in between us. "But I was thinking about it and even if you two are completely incompetent to do the whole prom thing right, you will still be the most stunning part of that party thanks to me. We have a lot of work to do."

The quiet fan club in the background was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"Ah well, ladies, our little Alice likes to get ahead of things, we still have some time until prom," Miriam spoke up. "Still plenty of time for those two to break up."

That seemed to make sense to all of them and the shoving in front of the counter continued, all of them eager again to get an Edward shirt.

Edward rolled his eyes and then leaned down to kiss me. I was pretty sure that he did that for show as well, but I let him.

This time nothing in the world could have distracted me from his kiss and while I enjoyed the feel of his warm lips—the fuzzy feeling in my tummy and the spinning in my head—I came to a very weird realization. This was it. I already knew that I loved Edward and I already told him that. But the thing is that I happen to love this very easily. But I didn't just love Edward, I was _in_ love with him. I loved being with him, I loved seeing him, and I loved the fact that he was claiming me in front of hundreds of girls and women who would all be more than happy to kiss his feet, even if he had run a marathon and didn't take of his sneakers for three days after that.

As disgusting as it may sound, I would probably even lick his feet. I was no better than his fan girls in that sense, but the difference between me and them was that I had him. And I knew him. None of them could possibly know that Edward was ticklish and that he liked to lay on his stomach while sleeping or that he only ate breakfast when he woke up with a good mood.

They probably didn't even knew that his reddish-brown hair had the slightest bit of blond in it when you looked at it in the sun, and none of them had ever gotten the privilege to touch it.

All of that was reserved for me and only me...and Chris occasionally.

So this was it. The moment in which I realized that I would give my life, my soul and even my favorite pair of shoes for Edward. And even though the world seemed to shift for me a little, it didn't seem like anyone else did notice anything. We broke the kiss, which felt like eternity to me and could have lasted exactly that long, and leaned our foreheads against each others. There were no fireworks in the background and no dramatic music. Nothing. Only me grinning like a fool at the realization that I really, really, truly loved Edward. Chris was definitely not going to like this, because she had already been showing the slightest hint of jealously after Edward had admitted his love to me and I instinctively replied.

Edward grinned right back at me and I didn't even care that the whole room was silent once more, except for our friends whispering to each other about something.

"Your favorite pair of shoes, huh? That is definitely a lot. I'm not sure if Alice would do the same thing for me," Edward teased me quietly.

Of course my shield was still not back in place. I should really pay more attention to that. Edward had gotten way too much insight into my mind today.

"I find it rather enjoyable," he continued. "But I'm sure that the whole shoe thing did not come from you. Who did you quote?"

I gathered as much energy as fast as I could to my head, before my mind raced to that stupid conversation with Raven again. There was no need for him to know that.

However, I wasn't too sure if he had gotten a glimpse or not. His face gave nothing away.

"Well, ladies," Miriam said slowly, she was obviously desperate to sell those t-shirts. She wielded her wand quickly and then her smile was back in place. "We still got 'Team Dylan' shirts. You also might wanna consider 'Team Shane' or 'Team Adrian'."

"She's not seriously selling fan articles of me now, is she?" Dylan asked, suddenly appearing in our midst.

"Yes, she is," Rose told him and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"Where have you been?" Edward asked.

"Lauren," Dylan replied gravely. "She's going with the same plan as Jessica."

"Oh damn," Edward sighed.

"Well, well. Since all of us are complete now and Edward and Bella made it clear to everyone that they are not breaking up, I guess we can go."

We were all agreeing when we were interrupted by the group of girls.

"Dylan, are you single?"

"Dylan, please say you don't have a girlfriend."

"Alice, are you sure that they are not going to break up?"

"Edward, I could give you so much more."

"I will wait for you, Edward."

"Dylan, do you love me?"

They were all just randomly screaming at us.

Edward sighed in desperation and held on to me a little tighter, as if he feared that they would tear me in pieces. I thought that it was more likely that he would be shredded and I could imagine Miriam selling bits and pieces of Edward.

"Ladies, ladies," Dylan called into the mess, effectively stilling the over-excessive movement. "I understand that you only want the best, but unfortunately, our dear Edward is not available at the moment. Instead of hoping that he will fall in love with you right here, you should all make sure to pay for some quality time with him, so you can make him see what he is missing. As for those of you with the better taste, I will hurry back to you right away, I just promised a friend to visit her and I could never break a promise to a young lady."

I watched Dylan and felt the corners of my mouth twitch. He was standing there speaking like he really believed what he was saying and making gestures like he was...I didn't even know how to describe it. It seemed like he was trying to come off like a rich prince or something. He was smiling obnoxiously at all the girls and touched the ones closest to him casually. When he ran his hand through one of the girls' hair, I was pretty sure that an ambulance had to be called soon.

"I will be back, my beautiful princesses, and I will miss you every single moment I am not with you," Dylan cooed and breezed out of the room. Everyone was so entranced with his acting that nobody seemed to notice that we were dancing out of the room right in front of them.

Outside we all took a deep breath and I heard how the screaming inside continued.

"See, this is how you do it," Dylan said to Edward with a grin.

"Is this how you have been working the whole time?" Alice asked.

"Of course. The reason those girls are desperate enough to buy a date is because they want to feel special, so you have to make sure they do."

"I can imagine how many girls may have fallen in love with you," Edward mumbled.

"Oh, not only me, Shane is quite good himself. I think he is going to be in the next generation of school hotties."

"Who is Shane?" I asked.

"He is talking about Shane Mastwood," Rose sighed.

"Oh, that hypnotizing guy?"

"Yep, that one."

"No wonder that he's an escort if he can hypnotize people," I said with a giggle.

"Yes, our escorts are mainly chosen for their talents or looks and in my case even both," Dylan explained.

"Really? I don't see how you talents help you to be charming," Jasper remarked dryly.

"That is because you are ignorant."

"Ah yes and Tanya is an escort why?" Emmett asked.

"Tanya is an escort?" I asked in surprise.

"Of course she is, you should pay more attention. The hosts wear a uniform and Tanya was wearing it," Emmett said.

"And why are you two not wearing the uniform?" I asked Edward and Dylan.

"I changed before you came," Edward replied with a shrug.

"A white button up with a beautiful red vest over it and black dress pants," Alice answered before I even asked the next question. "The girls wear a skirt."

"To answer your question, some people enjoy having two Tanyas at their side," Dylan said to Emmett.

"Oh yeah, Tanya duplicates right?" I threw in.

Everyone nodded.

"Well, how come she is here then and not with the specials? I thought Alice and Chris said there was a guy who could duplicate."

"Ryan?" Rose asked.

"Yes, that's him," Alice answered.

"Um, Ryan is actually a Physio, but he's got an injury so he can't take part in all this sport madness. The council members were talking amongst each other and suddenly we had Ryan for the fair," Rose said.

I just looked at her to tell her that she had not answered my question.

"There are two kinds of duplication: physical and mental. Ryan's duplication is physical, meaning his doubles are real. They have bodies, a heartbeat, everything. You could say they are their own beings to an extent, even if that is not entirely true. Tanya's doubles are a projection of her mind into everybody else's mind. They don't really exist, but we see them. It's more or less an illusion," Edward explained swiftly.

"Thank you, Mr. Nerd," Emmett commented before he turned to Jasper. "You know what, Jazzy? I'm thirsty. You should get your master something to drink."

"Can't I do that when we are at the Pyros display?" Jasper sighed.

"No, I want one of those crackling smoothies," Emmett insisted.

Jasper sighed and then dived into the crowd around us to get Emmett his drink.

Alice, Dylan, and Edward looked a little dumbfounded.

"Emmett and I won in the Special's labyrinth and now Jasper is Emmett's slave and Rose is mine," I explained to them.

"What?" Alice shrieked. "Emmett cannot have my Jazzy!"

"That's how the rules are, Alice. Just chill, it will only be for today," Rose said to her.

"Right, you will be going back to work anyway," Alice said while taking deep breaths.

"Um, no, we are free from work now that we actually have someone to serve. I have to follow Bella everywhere today and Jasper's priority for today is Emmett. Sorry, darlin'."

"Emmett, couldn't you have chosen some other idiot?" Alice complained.

"Are you saying that Jasper is an idiot?" Emmett asked jokingly.

"No, but you are."

"That just hurt my feelings."

"I don't care. If you break Jazz I will make sure to break you for breaking my favorite toy."

"Favorite toy?" I barged into their conversation.

"Just don't say anything about that," Edward said quietly to me.

Jasper reappeared with Emmett's smoothie and we continued to stroll around until we made it out of the Psychs display.

Before we knew it we were standing in front of the door that led to the Pyros, but we didn't get in since there was a long row in front of us. In fact the row was so long that we stood inline in front of the Pyros and the Hydros at the same time.

"Seems like fire and ice are the number one things this year," Dylan mused.

"The ice is definitely lacking something though," Rose said.

I turned to look at her in disbelief.

"What? It's true. You're not there right now, are you?"

"I don't want to stand in line," Alice whined.

"It's amazing how patient you are," I remarked and Alice stuck her tongue out in response.

Unlike the line in front of the Hydros, the one here moved rather quickly.

"I guess they aren't handing out ice skates and coats," Jasper said.

Soon it was our turn and the guy at the counter shoved a fan in each of our hands very quickly while he was talking. "It is very important to us that you respect our girls, which means you will not touch any of them without their permission and even then keep your hands to yourself. Right now, the Harem is only open for our male guests, but in twenty minutes it is open to everyone to watch the performance. After that, the Harem is only open for our female guests. Should you find one of our genies lamps, just tap it with your wand before you rub it and the genie will appear. You will be granted three wishes that are within the power of the genie and please refrain from anything disrespectful, perverted, rude, or anything else along those lines. The door only opens when you say the magic words. Have fun." And with that, he waved us off toward the door that led to the actual display.

"What magic words did he mean?" Alice asked.

"Abracadabra?" Emmett tried.

"Doesn't seem like it," Rose said.

"How about open sesame?" I joked.

Sure enough, the door in front of us opened.

"Nice work, Miss Swan," Jasper complimented before we stepped through the door.

In my whole life I had never seen anything like this. It wasn't as surreal as a complete ice-world, but still it was like being sucked into a fairy tale.

We were met with a wave of heat when we entered and and a very strong and spicy smell entered my nose.

We were in an oriental bazaar. The Pyros had apparently done their best to make it as much like an Arabian market as they could. It wasn't fancy and overly cleaned up, but so entrancing and mysterious that you just wanted to see everything. Some of the stands appeared to be old and nearly falling apart which only added to the charm. And the ground was covered in sand, which seemed to sparkle a little in the burning hot sun.

You could clearly differentiate between the people working here and the visitors. Even though some visitors wore turbans and scarfs on their heads, and a few even bought dresses and such that went along with the theme, the Pyros had cleaned up nicely in a very oriental way.

"That explains the Sari," Edward mumbled when a group of girls in Saris passed, all of them giggling.

"I thought Saris were Indian," Alice mused.

"Ah, my pretty young lady, they are," a boy close to us suddenly spoke up. I hadn't even noticed his stall there. "We didn't go for only one culture, but we tried to mix as many oriental cultures as we could, which is why we have the harem." He was speaking in a fake Arabian accent.

All of us just looked at him in his dress and the neatly bound turban.

"Are you interested in the genie lamps?" he asked.

"Sure," Emmett answered right away.

"Come closer, dear friend."

Emmett leaned closer to him and I found myself doing the same along with everybody else.

"The genies are walking around in here, disguised as normal human beings, but still outstanding. If you find out who is a genie, you have to watch that person, because the genies always have to return to their lamp every once in a while."

"That was not really helpful," Alice complained.

"I'm willing to share more information in exchange for 10 gold coins," the boy said coyly.

"We don't have gold coins," Rose said, sounding annoyed.

"Then I don't have any more information."

"But I want a genie," Alice suddenly whined.

"I didn't even know genies existed," I threw in.

"They do in the Middle East, but I hardly think that they are talking about real genies here," Edward whispered to me. "Don't let Alice know that though."

"I also want a genie, so you better spill," Emmett threatened the poor guy.

"I'm sorry but I told you everything that I know," the boy replied, unapologetic, and turned his attention to the apples in front of him. "Maybe you want to buy an apple, they are very extraordinary."

"I don't want a damn apple, I want a genie," Emmett and Alice yelled at the same time.

"I can't help you with that. You must find the genies on your own."

"You were just willing to spill in exchange for coins, so you better talk in exchange for not being seriously beaten," Emmett said, looking like he was ready to jump on the poor boy.

"Seriously Emmett, Alice, just let it go and look for the lamps," I interfered.

The boy's attention shifted to me and he suddenly gaped at me.

"You are the Queen," he noted, no longer faking an accent.

I blushed and looked down. "I guess I am, but not here."

"Oh, I've seen your water show and I was very impressed. I wanted to talk to you in the palace, but...never mind that. Do you also want to find a genie?"

"Uh, sure. Why not?"

"Alright, I can tell you this. One of the genies comes by here every now and then to snatch one of my apples," he informed me, looking around as if to look for her or him.

"Great, thanks for the info," Alice cheered and then skipped off into the crowd pulling Jasper along.

"Who wants to go looking for her?" Rose asked as we watched them disappear.

"You can do that," I said to her. She opened her mouth to protest but I cut her off. "My wish should be your command."

"I'm not a damn genie," she grumbled

"Whatever. Edward and I are going to look at those love charms," I said pointing at another stall a little further.

"Since when do you care for things like that?" Edward asked when I tugged on his hand to come along.

"I don't really, but I'm curious. We could go somewhere else if you want."

"No, no. I was just wondering," Edward protested.

We reached the stand and the girl in it smiled gently at us. She was wearing a Sari similar to the one Chris had been wearing the day before.

"Welcome," she greeted us warmly. "I'm guessing you two are a couple, right?"

That was definitely a little bit forward but I nodded anyway.

"Right, let me see what I have for you," she said absentmindedly and then vanished under her counter for a moment.

Edward and I looked at each other questioningly for a second before I shrugged and looked at the rings displayed in front of me.

"Alright, I have matching rings that tell you when your better half is near," she announced when she reappeared.

I looked at the two rings in her hand, which were both golden.

"Um, no thanks," I said carefully.

"Okay." She actually threw the rings over her shoulder. I thought they only did this in cartoons. "They don't work anyway," she informed me when she saw my confused look. She dived down again and reappeared with a bracelet. She turned to Edward. "If you put the spell that belongs to it on it, it will be something like a...leash or a, err...bond. Yes, a bond! You see, the bracelet will have a connection with your wand which in turn has a connection with you, therefore she will always return to you."

"She is my girlfriend, not my dog," Edward objected.

"True words, true words," she mumbled and started rummaging once more.

I kind of felt like I was in a cartoon or something.

"How about this?" she suggested when she came up. She held a little box in her hands. She opened it and revealed a clump of sliver hanging on a necklace.

"Um...I don't—"

"It has very unique magic. It shapes when you two touch it and the shape says a lot about your relationship."

I looked at Edward, but he wasn't paying attention to me.

"Are you sure that it works?" he asked her.

"You want to try it?" she retorted.

Without saying anything, Edward took my hand and laid it on the silver. He intertwined our fingers so that we were both touching it. I felt the clump shift and I would have pulled my hand away in surprise, but Edward held it in place.

After a few seconds he lifted our hands and revealed a beautiful heart shaped pendant. It was more like a heart frame, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

"Very nice," the girl approved.

"Does that mean anything?" I asked.

"I don't know, I'm just selling the stuff here," she replied with a shrug.

"I'll take it," Edward said absentmindedly.

"Huh?" was my intelligent comment to that.

"I'm buying it," he told me while he handed the money to the girl.

"What for? Are you planning on wearing it?" I asked him sarcastically and let out a snort.

"Not me," he said gently and was suddenly behind me, "you." He put the necklace around my neck and pushed my hair aside to fasten it. "The school year is almost over and I really don't want you to forget me over the summer," he whispered into my ear.

"I..." I was pretty sure I was blinking away tears. "I really don't know what to say. You shouldn't spend money on me like this. I re—"

"Just say thank you and be happy about having such a pretty necklace," Edward cut me off.

I turned around and smiled at him. "Thank you," I said genuinely.

Edward smiled back and slowly leaned down.

"Ah yes, today seems to be such a wonderful day for love, especially in the middle of an Arabian bazaar. It's almost like 1001 nights," Dylan sighed next to us.

Why did he always have to turn up like this?

I turned around to see him leaning casually against the stall and munching on an apple.

He grinned at me. "Y'know, these apples are great, they have slight cinnamon flavor."

"Thank you for popping in on our moment like that," Edward sighed at his brother and shoved him slightly.

"Hey, anytime. Although right now you might wanna join the others on the other side of the bazaar on the plaza," he said.

"Why what's there?" I asked already walking into that direction.

Dylan didn't answer and just led the way.

I noticed that a lot of people were moving in this direction.

"Ah, there you are," Alice called after a few minutes and I was immediately dragged along by the pixie.

A crowd was around the plaza, but Alice had somehow managed to get us in the front row.

A group of five half-naked boys was standing in the middle and all of them seemed to be humming a tune. It wasn't loud or anything, but it was nice to hear.

They were wearing something that I thought were called harems pants and turbans on their heads, but other than that, nothing. No shoes and no shirts. Their bodies were glistening with perspiration, which was no surprise in this burning sun.

Then another guy appeared and stood in from of them. He held a lighter and started to walk along the little row of boy. He was lighting every boys hand.

"This is so exciting," Alice squealed quietly.

"No, it's not. The Pyros do some sort of fire throwing every year," Rose retorted.

"I didn't mean that, it's probably going to be as unspectacular as always. Well, no, it is impressive, but... you know. I was talking about the fact that the harem is going to be opened for us soon." She pointed at the beautiful building behind the boys. It looked like they had stolen it right out of the Aladdin movie, which was maybe even possible.

My musings were interrupted when suddenly a giant flame blazed up.

The first one in the row let his fire jump high, before it went back to a little flame. Then the one next to him did the same thing and it went down the line like that.

When the last of the six had let his fame die down, he let blazing balls fly up the sky like a firework.

Again they did that one after another.

I noticed that the flames were only dancing above their hands and not quite touching the skin. I also noticed that one of these half-naked boys was Dean. Like the other five, he wasn't showing any kind of emotion on his face.

"How long does this thing take?" Rose asked impatiently.

Alice whispered something to her, but I didn't listen. Even if the others didn't like it much, I found it quite interesting.

Now they all let their lames flicker a little higher, just below their chins. When the last one had done that, they moved for the first time and reached the second hand out, letting the flame wander over to that hand too. When the last one had done that, they all looked like they were holding a fire pole.

One after another, they moved their hands to create a wave. They did that for a little while. It started out slow, but turned quickly into a raging wave. They went faster and faster until the fire started reaching out on the sides.

"Aren't they overdoing that a little?" Dylan asked a little worriedly. The flames reached out more and the people on the sides started to step away.

"Oh boy, I think they are losing control," Rose said.

"Maybe Bella should step in before anything happens," Jasper suggested.

"Nothing will happen," Alice said before I could protest.

"Are you sure about that?" Emmett asked.

"Just as sure as I know who the genies are," Alice answered with a grin.

Emmett eyed her for a moment and would have probably said something, if the flame the boys were rocking didn't suddenly explode. Or at least that was what it looked and felt like. With a suddenly force the fire spread out widely and disappeared at the same time, yet we were all hit with a strong wave of heat.

They had made some sand fly around but when it came falling back down, I noticed that it was little glass particles. I guess that explained the glittering sand.

It seemed like this was the end of their performance and people started shuffling away, when another guy came along and suddenly spat fire. I think I've never seen a person spit fire before. Well, yes, I have, but not actually without the help of anything.

That seemed to get peoples attention back and he spat again, roaring loudly while doing so and creating a giant flame above the heads of the other boys.

All of them made hurried movements with their hand and I saw that each of them seemed to have a different style. They were twirling the fire around in a ring that reminded me much of our water show, but they didn't leave it in that shape. They started shaping it into something I couldn't make out and then the guy continued spitting. Three boys were directing the flames he spat, while the other three were shaping them.

It seemed like they were shaping a snake, only that they had started with the end. It seemed to be endless above our heads and it brightened up the sky unnaturally, while sending so much heat down to us as well. I started to feel dizzy.

Then the spiting and the shaping came to an abrupt stop, and with one push from every single one of the guys, they formed the head of their snake. Only that it wasn't a snake. It was one of those Chinese dragons that was hovering above our heads, radiating heat.

All the boys stepped to the side and revealed a girl behind them who had apparently stepped out of the harem.

"Is she wearing a belly dancing costume?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Yes, she is," Alice sighed, probably knowing where his mind was.

The girl in the belly dancing costume started to sway lightly to unheard music. Then she twirled abruptly and it seemed to be spinning for hours, before she stopped, and at the same moment, that immense flaming dragon caught onto her hair. Her hair was blazing up and her eyes seemed to be burning lightly as well, while she let out a scream. People let out surprised and shocked gasps. But seeing that nothing really caught fire, I guessed that this was part of the show.

The fire in the sky vanished and it seemed like it was being sucked into the girls hair. That was definitely weird.

Her hair was falling down gently with a few flames still running through it, but other than that nothing. She opened her eyes and smiled gently.

"Ladies and gentleman, the harem is now open for everyone," she announced and then walked back to the doors, entering the building.

"Well, I guess the Pyros are capable of learning," Emmett said. "This was by far the best thing they have ever done."

"I'm really starting to wonder where Chris is. I would have guessed she would be here where the real fire is," Dylan mumbled.

"Well, there's another fire show back there that goes on all day, but she's not there," Alice said, smiling knowingly.

"Let me guess, you know where she is?"

"Of course I do." Alice almost sounded offended.

"Well, shouldn't we be going to her then? I mean, we are here to visit her after all," I said to Alice.

She sighed. "That's why we are here. She is in the harem. I'm not telling you more though."

"Aren't harems usually the room in which the women chill and men are forbidden to enter?" Dylan asked.

"That's right," Edward agreed with a shrug, saying that he didn't know either why this was called a harem then.

"Well, let's go. As far as I can tell, Chris seems to be nervous," I said. I had just opened myself to the bond to be met with Chris' nervousness.

"I hope she's wearing one of the costumes too," Dylan sang and led the way. The rest of us just shook our heads and trailed after him.

Dylan knocked on the door and a moment after that, it was opened.

"I'm sorry, I thought everybody knew. We're already full," a shy voice said as I saw rather small blond girl open the door. She was wearing a costume like the girl we had just seen.

From afar I hadn't noticed that most of the skirt was see-through. Actually, everything except the rim around the hip and a stripe in the middle across the front and the back. Even though this was an attempt to create the illusion that she was naked underneath this, she was actually wearing matching panties that covered everything important up.

The top was a simple blue bra that seemed to be made up of silk and she wore a golden head dress around her head that was attached to a veil in front of her face, which was also see-through.

"What?" Dylan protested. "But I want to go in there."

"I'm sorry, but we can't let it get too crowded in here, so we have a certain amount of people that are allowed in here."

"How many people?" Rose asked.

"Forty, but right now we are at thirty-three, because there are seven spaces reserved for—"

"Jaurica, what are you doing at the door? You know that Meredith gets pissed when more people than necessary see the inside. It makes the girls a little uncomfortable," an all-too familiar voice called and Chris suddenly appeared behind Jaurica. "Oh, it's you," she said, sounding like she wasn't too pleased about that. "Well, come on in." She opened the door a little further to reveal a stunning big room.

It looked exactly like those houses of Arabian rich men in this movies.

But then again, it didn't. The windows were high up and covered by sheets, so there wasn't getting any sunlight getting through. On the opposite side of the door was a little stage and in front of that were not chairs or anything. There was a see of big pillows little tables next to them. Most of those pillows were occupied by men. Some of them had arranged themselves in a group around a table and others sat there alone. On the side were walk ways that seemed to lead to other rooms at the back. They were on a higher level and I saw a girl in one of those blue costumes walking there before she stepped down those two steps to get to one of the tables.

Everything in here seemed to be mixed colors. I saw mostly red, orange, and green, but also occasionally yellow, and of course blue, thanks to the girls in blue that were walking around in here. It seemed like they were something like waitresses.

All of us were so busy gawking at the room in front of us with it's oriental charm, that none of us noticed the two rather big guys that Chris was talking to.

She was twirling the ends of her hair in her fingers and seemed to be looking up at them from underneath her lashes. That, added to the fact that she tracing patterns with her right foot, made me immediately know that she was flirting. Now that I looked at her, I noticed that she was not wearing a blue costume like the others. Even the boys were wearing blue. Chris wore purple harem pants that had a long rip from the bottom to top, revealing her legs in those already revealing see-through pants. The waist band was blue and had a few pendants dangling from it.

Unlike the waitresses or whatever they were, she was not wearing a normal bra. Hers was more like a sports bra, which was also blue and also had golden pendants dangling from it. She had a light pink scarf around her arms and also wore golden high heels while the others were wearing really funny shoes that were flat and the tip was curling lightly.

Chris finished her conversation with the two boys who walked off, and then turned her attention to our group. It seemed like I was the only one who had been watching her and she winked swiftly at me.

"So, do you guys want to sit at your table or not?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, yes," Alice sang and started jumping up and down.

Chris only shook her head and waved a passing waitress over. "Jasmine, can you take them to my table?" she asked her. It sounded a bit more like an order.

"Yes, of course," Jasmine answered.

"Wait, aren't you going to sit with us?" I asked her.

"I can't right now. I have to take care of the reservations, because in a few minutes the new guests are coming."

"I thought you had a guest limit," Rose said.

"We do, which is why I have to see our current guests off. Everyone can only stay in here for an hour, that way a lot of people get in and we don't have a huge crowd in here. Of course this all works with a reservation system and it helps if you have connections. We say there is a forty people limit but we already had more than that in here," Chris explained quickly.

"Christabel, we need to get going now," a girl suddenly called. We all turned to see a brown-haired girl strut toward us in a costume that looked just like Chris'. "Meredith doesn't want the same chaos as before, and I really don't want her pissed off when she comes back."

"Chill, Janan, we'll get to it right away. Just go and get the reservations book. I already sent Tommy and Max to get the other two boys for me," Chris said calmly, rubbing her hands up and down Janan's arm before she pushed the girl into the other direction and gestured for her to get going. "Okay, as I was saying, get seated," she then said with a smile to us. She turned around and walked briskly away. In her half-naked state it was easy to see every movement of her hips and upper body.

"Please follow me," Jasmine said to us and led the way. We walked down the entire walkway until we stepped down. She led us to an arrangement of eight pillows around two of these little glass tables. They were arranged in a a half circle and were right in front of the little stage.

Dylan and Emmett immediately threw themselves on two of the giant pillows.

"This is awesome. There is no better way to spend the break than chilling on an oversized pillow," Emmett sighed and patted the empty seat next to him to gesture for Rose to join him

She sighed but sank down on the pillow anyway. The rest of us took our seats as well.

I was sitting between Edward and Dylan, who had made sure that Chris would have to sit next to him when she joined us.

"Well, my name is Jasmine and I am your servant today. Is there anything you need to be more comfortable?" she asked sweetly.

All of us shook our heads, although Emmett seemed to have thought about something before Rose nudged him in the ribs.

"Alright, here are the menus." She pulled out her wand, made them appear, and handed them to each of us. "And if there is anything you need, just ring this bell." She took off a tiny bell from her bracelet, tapped her wand on it while mumbling something, and then it grew into the size of one of these servant bells. "Don't hesitate to ask me if you need anything," Jasmine said with another sweet smile before she left.

"I still haven't quite figured out what this place is about," Rose murmured.

Edward lifted his eyebrows. "It's kind of simple, Rose. A bunch of half-naked girls serving guys. And until a few minutes ago, it was only guys," he told her.

"Yes, I get that, but I don't see why this would be interesting for girls," Rose said.

"Maybe because there are guys as well," I suggested.

"That would make sense. Why did Chris have to get us a girl?"

"Ah, you guys are in for a surprise," Alice sighed and sunk back in her pillow almost vanishing in it.

"Not anymore," Edward replied smugly and leaned back as well.

Alice sat up right away to glare at him. "Edward Anthony Cullen, I swear if you ever rummage through my head again without my permission I will personally—"

We never got to hear the end of Alice's threat, because the noise in front of the doors was distracting all of us. Chris appeared on walk way to our left and started throwing orders around. I wondered how I had not noticed that the other guests had all left. The girls were all running around organizing everything when a few boys appeared and helped. I had seen two of them already, but now it was four.

They were all wearing blue harem pants, matching the girls costumes, and vests which had nothing underneath.

The doors opened for a brief moment and I saw Chris and Janan slip through it along with one of the boys, before it closed again. From what I saw, it seemed like people were desperately trying to get in.

"I thought it worked with reservations, shouldn't it be a little more organized then?" Jasper asked, looking at the now closed doors. The noise was still clear to hear for us.

"Yes, but the concept of reserving is the part that is a little all over the place," Edward answered.

I looked at him and saw that familiar distracted expression on his face, that he had whenever he was listening to several people's minds.

"Um, guys," he then said slowly. Everyone turned to look at him a little confused by his tone. "It seems like our parents have found each other and reserved a table," he frowned.

"Mom and Dad?" Alice asked a little surprised.

"Yes, and Emmett's parents, as well as Rosalie and Jasper's."

"Ugh, that is slightly awkward. My mother drooling over half-naked guys," Rose groaned.

"It's not only your mom. Apparently your father made an appearance as well," Edward told her.

"Dad?" Rose and Jasper both asked in surprise.

"Since when is your father here?" Alice asked frantically. It seemed like she was a little nervous. I guessed it was because she had missed something like that.

"That, I don't know," Edward replied.

We were all looking at the door where the waiter and waitresses were lined up.

The doors opened again and Chris assigned every party a waiter, who led the people to their tables.

I noticed Carlisle and Esme, who were with Ms. Hale and three unknown people.

I started to giggle when I took in one of them.

"What is so funny?" Emmett asked looking around the room.

Suddenly Chris slumped down next to Dylan. "Don't you think Emmett's dad looks an awful lot like his son?" she asked.

"That was exactly what I was thinking," I told her, still giggling.

Chris smirked at me, finding this just as amusing as I did.

I looked over at the group of parents again. I noticed that both Chris and I examined Emmett's parents again.

Emmett's dad was tall and muscular just like his son, maybe even more. He also had the same curly hair, even though his was a few shades lighter. Even from the distance it was easy to see that Emmett even inherited most of his facial features. They had the same dark brown eyes and the same mischievous grin.

I looked at Emmett again, who grinned at his dad when the two of them made eye contact. Looking back at his dad to see the same expression on his face was almost scary. It was like seeing Emmett's future self or something.

His dad caught sight of me and then Chris. He frowned in something that seemed like confusion and then turned to ask the waitress something.

She nodded and smiled and led the parents to a seat group next to us.

"Boy," Emmett's dad boomed. I cringed at the volume, while I heard Chris let out a small laugh.

"They are more alike than you think," Edward whispered to me with a chuckle.

"Who are your friends?" Emmett's father asked, looking first at me and then at Chris.

"You didn't tell your parents about me and Bella? I'm hurt," Chris mocked.

I noticed that Dylan was staring at Chris' bare midriff. I shook my head at that and turned my attention to Emmett instead.

"I only mention important people," Emmett said to Chris.

"So I'm drop dead gorgeous, but not important?" I asked Emmett with wide eyes.

"Drop dead gorgeous?" both Edward and Chris asked.

"That's what Emmett said," I told them with a shrug.

"Hey, Dia, I think your son has a new girlfriend," Emmett's dad called over his shoulder.

The black-haired woman who had been talking with Rose and Jasper's mom a second ago, turned.

Only now I noticed how young she actually looked.

She had long black hair and a very delicate face. Her grey eyes were shining brightly, making her look as if she was smiling with her eyes. She came to stand beside her husband, looking like a doll next to him. Although she was quite tall for a woman, she just barely reached her husband's shoulder. She looked at Emmett with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, Dia," Rose greeted with a smile.

"Don't I get a hello?" Emmett's dad asked with a pout.

Rose only rolled her eyes and got up. Jasper quickly followed suit and the two of them went over to their parents.

"Hey, kiddos," the man, who was obviously their dad, greeted and pulled them both into a hug.

"Hey, Dad," they chorused.

A flash of emotion that came from Chris caught my attention.

She was watching the blonde section, who were all talking quietly with each other, and then her eyes flew over to Emmett and his parent's, who seemed to be teasing him.

I smiled sadly at her. She missed our parents and I understood that all too well.

"Alright, Bella, Chris, pay attention," Rose called and pulled her father over to us.

Okay, even if I had called them the blonde section, their father didn't have blonde hair. But he did have shining blue eyes as well.

"So, Dad, this is Bella and Chris," Jasper introduced, pointing at me and then at Chris.

Ms. Hale appeared behind the father of her children and then said, "Whether you believe it or not, Isabella and Christabel are twins."

That also seemed to get the attention of Emmett's parents as well. Esme and Carlisle joined the party as well, looking amused.

"So you got yourself twins? Nice work. What about Rosie, though?" Emmett's dad asked, nudging his son lightly and waggling his eyebrows. They were really a lot alike.

Emmett rolled his eyes and sighed. "Dad, I'm not dating either one of them and I'm still very happy with Rosie," he replied.

"Right," Emmett's dad said slowly and then grinned at me. He stretched his hand out to me and I grasped it, immediately regretting that I did that. He almost squeezed the life out of my hand. "I'm Caleb McCarty. You can call me Cal," he said, smiling brightly. He let go and I wanted to flex my hand, but Emmett's mom took it.

"I'm Diamonique, but everyone calls me Dia," she introduced herself with a smile. She had a slight accent that I couldn't exactly place, but sounded somehow like Russian. And then I saw the only thing in her face that Emmett had inherited. The dimples. I involuntarily smiled back when I saw them.

"I'm Bella," I replied.

Dia let go and then she and her husband went over to Chris. The next hand was extended in front of me.

I looked up to see Rose and Jasper's father. He had a handsome face and the shape was similar to Jasper's, but Jasper seemed to look more like his mom. Still, it seemed almost ridiculous how beautiful the parents of my friends were.

"I'm Derek Whitlock. Nice to meet you," he said genuinely.

"Bella," I answered.

This was a little overwhelming.

Chris jumped up. "Okay, kids. It's wonderful to meet all your parents, but I gotta work," she said hastily. I noticed that she was glancing toward the entrance. "Meredith," she then called so loud that all of us cringed for a moment.

"Why are you not dressed yet?" Meredith's voice asked.

"Getting to it," Chris replied and then turned her attention back to us. "See y'all in a bit."

Rose giggled at her attempt to imitate her family's Texan drawl.

Chris shot her a quick grin before she strode away in quick steps. Everyone turned to watch her vanish in a door, but not without snapping something at a girl that she passed.

Jasper snickered quietly and I looked at him in question.

He only shook his head, but beside me Edward started to chuckle as well.

"Care to share?" I asked him.

"His mom likes Chris," Edward told me, not quiet enough for the others not to hear.

"What? But she was not at all charming," Alice protested.

"When?" Emmett asked.

"Yesterday."

"I found her quite pleasant, thank you," Ms. Hale threw in.

"Bella is pleasant, but not Chris," Rose noted looking at her mother with a funny expression.

She might have replied something, if a small voice hadn't interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but maybe you want to sit together? Then you could just push the pillows into a group. It's just that you have to sit down because we have other guests to seat as well," the girl in her blue costume piped.

"Sure, we'll sit with our kids," Cal immediately agreed and was already dragging a pillow over and squeezed it in between Alice and Emmett.

His wife let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. Somehow Emmett's parents reminded me of him and Rose.

Five minutes later we all sat in a large group together. I noticed that every now and then someone was looking over at us, pointing excitedly in our direction.

I raised an eyebrow in question, wondering what was so interesting about us.

Emmett let out a groan, while Edward laughed quietly.

"What's so funny?" Alice asked.

"Mom's fans," Emmett grumbled. He didn't look like found this funny.

"Fans?" I asked.

Edward pulled me closer to him before he explained to me. "Dia is a model, and quite a famous one at that. Well, at least in our world. And in case you were wondering, she is originally from Hungary. But it's not only her that they are staring at. Unfortunately, we are some kind of celebrity group. Derek is a historian and wrote quite a few books, some of them are used for our classes, and then there is our dear Ms. Hale. She is one of the former royals and works for the IDM. She's the adviser of the president. Also there is Cal, who used to be a pro surfball player. Not to mention that you get your fair share of attention too, as well as Chris."

I just nodded at that, not sure if I even got everything he had just told me. Basically I was sitting here with a group of extraordinary beautiful people, who were all some kind of superstars. Great, just great.

"You know what? I think we should get that magic lamp tea," I heard Esme suggest. I hadn't even realized that she and Carlisle had seated themselves between me and Dylan.

"One hundred and one flavors cake sounds like something we should try," Cal said and Emmett agreed with that.

"Where are the servants when you need them?" Rose complained, not looking up from her menu.

Alice let out a little sigh and reached for the bell on the table. "Oh Jasmine," she sang.

Not even a second later, Jasmine stood right behind Alice. "Is there anything I can do for you?" Jasmine asked pleasantly.

"We want that one hundred and one flavors cake," Emmett told her.

Jasmine made a scroll appear, opened it and seemed to be writing his order on it.

"And some of that magic lamp tea would be nice," Esme added.

"I want fortune cookies," Alice chimed in.

Jasmine nodded. "Anything else?" she asked.

"How big is the cake?" Emmett asked.

"Big enough for all of you."

"Okay, we'll take two then," Cal interfered.

I looked at him with wide eyes.

"He's Emmett's dad, you shouldn't be surprised," Edward noted.

Dia, who had heard that, looked up and said, "You definitely would never want to be at the same table with those two at Thanksgiving. It's traumatizing each year."

"Oh, I've seen it," I reassured her and shuddered at the memory of the school's Thanksgiving dinner.

Just then, Jasmine and two other waitresses appeared, serving us. They made a stack of plates appear and left again.

The one hundred and one flavors cakes were two-layered and had colorful icing on them. And when I say colorful, I really mean it. The icing was changing colors.

"Well, that explains why some of our food people had to help out the Pyros," Alice commented. She had a little basket with fortune cookies in front of her and grabbed one, before passing the basket on to Jasper.

"Confucius say: if you think you're going to sum up your whole life on this little bit of paper, you're crazy," Alice read out loud and then pulled a grimace.

Jasper snickered at that, but stopped when Alice threw him a dark look.

"Why do I have the feeling that Chris might have written that?" Rose mused.

"Because it sucks," Alice sulked.

Jasper opened his cookie and laughed before he read, "Fortune not found? Abort, retry, ignore."

I actually snorted at that, while Emmett and his dad guffawed loudly, drowning everybody else's laughter.

Jasper took out another cookie before Dylan reached over to grab the basket form him.

"Never forget a friend," Jasper read with a frown, "especially if he owes you."

"That means Jasper will forget all of us except Emmett," Dylan commented, while the rest of us laughed. "Only listen to the fortune cookie; disregard every other future telling unit," Dylan read, already choking with laughter.

"Well, Alice, looks like you're out of business," Edward said with a chuckle.

Esme took out a cookie next . When she read it, she let out a high pitched giggle. "If you eat a box of fortune cookies, anything is possible," she read.

"That is probably true...if Chris doesn't write the phrases," Rose said.

"I don't think she wrote them," I said to her.

"What makes you think that?"

Carlisle answered that question. "A great pleasure in life is doing what others say you can't."

"Huh?"

"That was in my cookie and it doesn't sound like Chris to me," Carlisle explained and handed me the little basket.

I took a cookie out and passed it on to Edward. 'You are admired by everyone for your talent and ability' I read to myself. I didn't say it out loud, but that sounded like something Chris would say. To me, at least.

"How very true," Edward breathed into my ear, causing me to shiver.

"Cut it out, you two. We already saw enough of that," Emmett complained.

I stuck my tongue out at him, which only caused him to laugh.

"Why does Bella get the best fortune?" Alice whined.

"Stop whining. If you don't like it, order more of those things and see what you get then," Jasper's mom said to her. She didn't look amused like the rest of us did, as a matter of fact, she managed to sit straight and proper in this giant pillow, but it seemed like she was a less formal than the other times I had seen her.

Edward read his fortune. "You will soon discover a major truth about the one you love the most." He looked at me in question.

"Don't look at me," I said defensively. "Ask your parents if they have any more kids."

"Really, Edward? You love Bella more than us?" Carlisle tried to sound hurt, but the proud smirk on his face kind of made that impossible.

Dia chuckled quietly before she took out her own cookie. "The one you love is closer than you think," she read. When she looked up, Cal had scooted so close to her that she had no choice but to look at him. She smiled, but then turned around. "Now where is he?" she asked pretending to be looking for someone.

"Don't play those games woman," Cal growled and pulled her in for a rough kiss.

"Seriously guys, that's disgusting," Emmett protested.

The two broke apart quickly and Cal grinned at his son, not really looking apologetic. "Playing a game of musical farts really stinks."

Of course Emmett and his father laughed loudly at that.

Emmett's cookie said: 'You will receive a fortune cookie', and Rose got one that said: 'Good things are being said about you...in bed'.

The silence that followed was definitely comical, seeing that Alice, Jasper, Edward, Emmett and I were trying to suppress our laughter, while the parents that belonged to the package seemed to be at loss of words.

Well, that was not entirely true, since Cal was just like Emmett shaking with silent laughter until his wife smacked him on the back of is head.

"Rosalie, you are not doing stupid things with stupid boys, are you?" her father asked.

Rose's eyes widened, but she shook her head furiously.

"Hey, I'm not stupid!" Emmett protested.

That just did it. I let out a laugh so loud that it rivalled Emmett, but immediately clamped my hand down on my mouth, which didn't really stop me from laughing.

Rose shot a glare in my direction, but I couldn't help it. And it wasn't even like I was the only one laughing. Thanks to my outburst, Alice and the others didn't bother suppressing their laughter anymore.

"Emmett McCarty..." Rose's dad started to threaten, but never finished, because we were all distracted by two guys carrying a basket onto the little stage. It looked like one of those snake baskets out of which snakes always wound out in the movies when someone was playing a flute. Only this one was bigger and it seemed like it was heavy too.

"What kind of giant snake are they going to summon out of there?" Rose asked in terror.

"It can't be bigger than the snake you already got acquainted with," Emmett said to her in a suggestive tone.

As an answer he got a glare form Rose and her father, while Cal laughed hysterically at that.

"Geez, it's like having two Emmett's around," I complained and leaned closer into Edward's chest.

"Trust me, it could get a lot worse than this," he said with a chuckle that rumbled through his chest.

The two guys vanished from the stage again, leaving it completely empty aside form the basket.

"Ah, the show is about to start," Carlisle noted with a nod.

"What show?" I asked.

"The reason why everybody wants to be here, especially the males," Alice explained.

The look I gave her must have shown the confusion I felt, since she only answered, "Wait and see."

As if on cue, the music suddenly started playing. It was slow and entrancing and I felt all my attention focused on the stage suddenly.

It was dimly lit now and smoke was covering the floor, while the oriental music was playing.

In the back of my mind I noticed that Edward said something about an entrancing spell, before my attention was completely focused on the happenings on stage.

In the fog on stage, I could make out the figure of a woman, who was standing there with her arms raised above her head. She was moving her hands in waves and slowly let them travel down until they were at her sides.

She was still doing that wave like shapes with her hand though.

Then she let her arms join that movement as well. The fog around her started to fade and I could actually see who it was. It was Janan, the girl we had met earlier at the entrance. She was now dressed in a green skirt with a matching bra that had pendants dangling on it like her earlier outfit.

Even if it seemed to be covering a little more than her previous attire, she seemed much more naked in that one. I really couldn't explain why that was, but I still liked the costume. She looked very beautiful in it and it did make her body look nice.

Janan had expanded her movements to her whole body now and she was winding and bending slowly to the music.

She raised her arms every now and again and never stopped those arm waves.

Then she actually put those wave movements into her body, making her move like a snake. She swayed her hips slowly from one side to the other and then did the arms waves again.

Then suddenly the music picked up and drums joined the sound and behind Janan appeared another set of arms before Meredith stepped out from behind her.

They both moved in synchronization, bumping the right side of their hips up and down to the beat.

Meredith was wearing a blue costume, that seemed to have lots of beads on it and was less flowing than the one that Janan was wearing.

The two of them twirled and let their hips roll, matching to the sound and speed of the music.

Then they slowed down a bit and did a brief shimmering of their hips exactly when the drums in the music were heard, making it seem as if their bodies were making the music.

Somehow they had made their way to the basket in front and I already guessed what was going to come next.

The two girls seemed to be rotating their shoulders quickly and that was when the basket opened.

And sure enough, it was Chris who slowly snaked her way up, the lid on her head as if it was a hat. She held her hands out to both sides as if balancing something on them, when I realized that, there were small flames dancing on her palms.

Janan and Meredith placed their hands over the flames and then twirled abruptly to the sound of the music, moving away from Chris.

The flames expanded as if they were ropes, which were held by Chris. Due to the twirling of the two others the flames had somehow formed a spiral around them looking a little like those big scarfs that belly dancers usually twirled around.

Chris let go of the flames, leaving them with the other two and continued dancing her way out of the basket.

She was wearing a red costume, which also had beads on it, that were dangling in little chains from the top.

She gripped the rim of the basket and heaved her legs elegantly out of it. Until now I hadn't realized that she had her seal covered up with make-up earlier, because now it was visible, and for some strange reason, it looked good. Chris quickly twirled to stand in the middle of the two other girls, who had been twirling the whole time as well, making the flames look like whirlwinds.

Now that Chris stood in the middle of them they stopped.

Somehow they got the flames winding around their arms, without touching their skin, still making it look as if it were and accessory instead of a deadly element.

Chris made flames appear and they wound themselves around her arms, only hers actually touched her skin.

And then they continued dancing. It was really impressive how fast they could move their hips and isolate the movements of each body part, although it seemed like Janan was more fluent with the whole thing. But even though her movements were more fluent, her concentration was not always on the dancing, because she had to keep an eye on the flames surrounding her. Meredith did just fine, although she had trouble with those strange isolated movements of the hips. Everything else seemed just fine and she also look like she had fun with the whole thing.

Chris' dancing was very impressive as well, but I could see that she was not fully concentrating on it, even if that did nothing to her performance. Through the bond I felt a mixture of boredom, embarrassment, and excitement.

I smiled at that and when her gaze fell on me, her enthusiasm seemed to be enlightened and she put a little more effort into her routine. It wasn't unknown to me that Chris was a good dancer, because while I had been in failing in ballet classes when we were little, she had been acing her little belly dancing sessions. She actually had wanted to do ballet as well, but our parents thought it would be nice if we had separate hobbies. And since Mom was very much into dancing at the time, this was what came out of it. But after my second injury, Mom took me out of ballet classes and signed me up for singing instead, which went a lot better than the dancing.

We stopped singing and dancing when we were eight though, because Mom thought that we could be great artists just like she was. I sighed at the thought, but returned my attention to my dancing twin sister.

Currently the three girl were shimming their chests every time the beat of the drums picked up for a few seconds and somehow managed to roll their hips at the same time as well as move their feet. I noticed that the flames would flare up as well every time the beat picked up and I saw that Janan got a little nervous about that, but she never stopped dancing.

She only stopped then when the music paused and only the drums were to be heard. Thanks to Chris' past obsession I knew what was coming next. A drum solo. That was what Chris liked the most about the belly dancing and what she did best. Janan and Meredith stood back and snaked their arms, letting the flames dance. Now that Janan didn't have to move much she didn't seem as nervous anymore.

Meanwhile Chris had her drum solo. All she really had to do was move to the beat. Only that it was all about timing, so that it seemed as if she was making the sounds with her body.

She did exactly that and I was reminded of the times when she would rehearse that in our room and kept messing up.

She was unable to move her chest as much to the right as she did it to the left. She had always been frustrated about that and that little flaw was still there. I was sure that nobody would really notice that, but since I used to make fun of her antics back then, I saw it and grinned to myself.

Little flames started dancing around Chris' midriff and I started to wonder if that was planned.

When the little flames formed themselves into a circle around her and moved with her, I had my answer.

Then Chris quickly switched places with Janan, who took over the rest of the drum solo. I quickly realized why. Janan seemed to be the more experienced dancer among the three, and seeing that the beat picked up a little, Chris wasn't able to keep up.

But then it slowed again and Janan switched places with Meredith, who dipped her hip to the beat a few times before all three danced together again.

The way they sent vibrations through their bodies almost made me feel envious, but it helped to know that Chris was nowhere near as perfect as she seemed right now.

And it wasn't even like I wanted to be dancing in front of a bunch of drooling guys, wearing nothing but a bra and a skirt. That was definitely nothing for me.

"Is it normal to be vibrating like that?" Edward asked quietly. I wasn't even sure if he was talking to me.

I only shrugged in answer. The girls ended their performance with a few more twirls letting the flames burst out in a giant circle around all three of them, before they all dropped on the floor when the music stopped.

When the sound of the music faded, I was able to divert my attention from the stage. I looked at our group, who also seemed to wake from their haze.

"That was just so damn hot," Dylan whispered loud enough for the whole world to hear.

The three girls were still on the stage and were now getting up. The perk in Chris' attention told me that she had heard Dylan.

"Don't pee your pants, D-boy. You get to screw her later anyway," Emmett snickered.

"Don't say that," Dylan, Edward, and I hissed at the same time. Everyone looked at us in wonder, while the three of us threw questioning glances at each other.

"Hey, if they were ever going to go there, I will have to hear all about it in his thoughts," Edward explained with a shrug.

"Are you telling me that you guys didn't—"

"Emmett!" everybody shouted, thankfully making him shut up.

Chris was skipping off the stage, glaring at the big oaf.

So she had heard him.

"Chris, you are a really talented dancer," Esme complimented her, sensing the trouble that was going to come if Chris didn't get distracted.

Chris threw her a grin. "If you think I'm good, you should have seen Bella back when she was dancing," she exclaimed.

Everyone turned to look at me.

"Don't look at me, it was Chris who did the belly dancing," I said defensively.

"So wait...Chris did belly dancing and...what did you used to do?" Alice asked, but grinned before she finished her question.

I didn't attempt to answer her, but Chris opened her mouth to answer for me.

"Shut up, Chris," I told her with a sigh.

"Well, I must say I understand why I heard so many young man talking about this place," Cal murmured to his wife, looking pointedly at Chris. Even though she had been revealing a lot of skin earlier already, somehow she managed to show some more now.

"All of them are having wet dreams with Chris in them," Rose giggled.

"As if...some of them only come here because they know I'm Bella's twin," Chris huffed and I sensed a brief flash of bitterness coming from her, which was quickly replaced by a short flash of jealousy before it changed into affection. What was she thinking about?

I reached through the bond to get into her mind, but her thoughts had seemed to move on, since she was now slumping down in the empty seat next to Dylan.

She started to play with her hair and thought of some organizing things.

"And that was why you insisted on coming here?" the ever so cheerful Ms. Hale asked the father of her children.

"It was Cal and Carlisle's idea," he defended himself.

I looked at Carlisle in surprise.

He merely shrugged and said, "I had to inspect my future daughter-in-law."

Dylan, who had been drinking tea, was now spiting it all out and started coughing like crazy and Chris had accidentally lit her hair on fire, but didn't look up to show any further reaction.

"You do realize that Bella was not even in our program, right?" Chris asked.

I sensed that Carlisle's words had made her feel uncomfortable.

"Yes, I do, but Bella and you are almost like one person and when she gets married to Edward then you will be our daughter-in-law as well," Esme explained calmly.

"Are you sure that Edward and Bella will get married?" Jasper asked sceptically.

The uneasy feeling that Chris was now starting to wash over me.

"Don't say that, Jazzy, I'm very sure they will get married. Of course, not before us," Alice chirped.

"Could we please stop talking about weddings?" Rose demanded, rolling her eyes.

Her mother nodded in agreement, while Emmett's parents were quietly whispering to one another excitedly.

I sighed. I was surrounded by crazy people. Crazy people that call themselves my friends, and apparently, also my family.

"Don't worry, if we ever get married we will get rid of all of them," Edward whispered to me, reassuringly.

"I really think you should visit us at home some time, Edward," Chris suggested sweetly, now that her hair was no longer burning.

Edward only rose an eyebrow at that. Both of them gazed at each other and then Edward shook his head mumbling something I didn't get.

"He will definitely shoot you," Chris said to him, obviously continuing a conversation they just had mentally.

It didn't take much to get that she was talking about Dad and she was right, he was definitely going to shoot Edward.

"Who is going to shoot the pretty boy?" Emmett asked curiously.

"Daddy," Chris said so cheerfully that it seemed ridiculous.

"You have a father?" Dylan asked in confusion.

Chris glared at him. "Of course I do. What's wrong with you? Did you think I hatched out of an egg or something?"

"Hmm...no, but I assumed that you would have fallen out of heaven. Did it hu—"

Chris groaned and got up. "Did it hurt when you fell on your head when you were little?" she finished his question.

"Only a little," he replied with a grin.

Chris groaned once more before she got up and left. She went over to a group of boys, who had apparently already been waiting. I watched her for a few moments, who she talked with them, while Meredith and Janan were talking to others.

"You're already sleeping with her! What the hell did you use a pick-up line for?" Emmett asked Dylan, once again not aware of the parental presence.

"Emmett, could you shut that giant trap of yours?" Rose hissed and hit him on the back of his head.

I hit my head against Edward's shoulder, while I avoided the curious glances of Esme and Carlisle.

"Let's just eat the cake," Alice suggested, turning everyone's attention to the cakes in front of us.

Seeing the dangerous twinkle in the eyes of the McCarty guys told me that this was not going to be pretty.

While Chris was busy with having her picture taken together with her drooling fans and her co-dancers, we were stuck at the table experiencing what it was like to eat with two Emmetts.

It had already been bad with one, but now I wasn't so sure if there was anything worse than that.

The way the two of them attacked the cake should definitely be illegal.

They had claimed a whole cake for themselves and didn't even bother to use plates. They just shoved their forks right into the cake and started munching like starved wolves. They even let out growls while eating.

I was watching the whole thing cautiously, wondering if I should be fascinated or terrified for my life.

"Apple," Emmett grunted.

"Really? I'm tasting strawberry," his dad replied.

"Now it's orange."

Cal chewed loudly and looked thoughtful. "Ketchup," he declared.

"That's gross," I mumbled.

"Oh that is nothing, they can get a lot messier while eating," Dia reassured me.

"I actually meant that the cake tastes like ketchup," I told her with a giggle.

"Now it's chicken," Cal barged in.

"Bella, I dare you to eat some of this cake," Alice announced out of the blue.

I looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Um...no."

"If you don't do it, I will arrange for you to wear one of those belly dancer costumes," Alice pressed.

"Alice, we are not even playing Truth or Dare, and if you like it so much, why don't you eat the cake?"

"I don't think it's called one hundred and one flavors cake for nothing. With my luck, I could end up eating feet or something," she reasoned.

"Right, and of course it makes sense to force me to eat it then," I said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

"Come on, Jasper, let's try the cake," Dylan encouraged Jasper, who had been eyeing the cake curiously.

Sure enough, the two boys did it more civilized than the McCarty section and cut themselves a piece that they ate skillfully with a fork.

Judging by their twisting expression, nothing good came out of it.

"What does it taste like, Jazzy?" Alice asked eagerly.

"Mustard," Jasper mumbled, struggling to swallow the mass in his mouth.

Rose laughed at that.

"Down with it, boy," his father encouraged, while his mom made a face similar to his.

"At least mustard is edible," Dylan complained, his mouth also still full.

"What did you get?" Carlisle asked eagerly.

"Soap."

"That's just nasty," Chris commented. She somehow made herself appear beside Dylan again and slumped down in her previous seat.

"Done with your fans?" Rose asked.

"I wish," she answered absentmindedly and took a piece of the cake herself.

"Are you willing to eat that?" Alice asked her.

"Sure, why not? Weren't you just trying to get Bella to eat it?"

Alice only shrugged.

Chris took a bite and different then the boys her face didn't twist in disgust, she looked like she was in heaven.

"What did you get?" Rose asked sceptically.

Chris jumped up and started looking around, before she waved one of the waiters over. "Could you please ask in the kitchen if I can get a huge piece of cake that is only cinnamon flavoured?" she asked the big guy.

"I don't think that will be possible. They are having too much fun mixing the disgusting stuff," he replied apologetically.

"Oh come on. Mira has a crush on you, so you only have to play nice and I will owe you if you do that," Chris actually put on a Alice worthy pout and looked up at the guy, who sighed in defeat.

"I'll see what I can do."

Chris grinned at him, before she sat back down.

"One day we'll have to do something about that cinnamon addiction of yours," I said to her with a serious face.

"We'll do that at the same day that you admit that you would die for cotton candy," she retorted.

Just then, the boy Chris had talked into getting her cake reappeared with a plate with a really big piece of cake on it.

"She thought it was for me," he told her with a grin.

"Thanks a billion times. Remind me that I owe you for a lifetime," Chris said breathlessly, staring hungrily at the cake.

"You should be careful what you say," he replied, but I doubted that Chris heard him, because she was already giving a really impressive Emmett impersonation. Only not as smeary.

"I'm officially in heaven," she moaned.

"It's really sad that her heaven involves a cinnamon cake and nothing else," Edward commented.

Dylan's expression changed and he suddenly stared intently at Chris.

"People you should eat faster, because I want to catch my genie," Alice whined.

"Oh, good luck with that. As far as I heard, nobody has found one yet, although they are walking around here," Esme said.

"Well, they all don't have my skills," Alice cheered and started vibrating with excitement.

"That's because not everybody cheats," I told her.

In return she glared at me. "I don't cheat, it's not my fault that I have been blessed with this wonderful gift. You can blame my parents for that."

"It's hardly my fault," Esme defended herself. "My branch of the family is not the one that passes on psych gifts."

"Hey, don't blame that on me. Neither of our gifts should have created that monster," Carlisle retorted gesturing toward Alice, who was pouting at the reference.

"I'm not a monster. I'm cute," she sulked.

"Of course you are, but you are also a monster, even if you're the cutest one alive," Carlisle said to her with a sweet smile that Alice mimicked.

"Um, Carlisle...what is your gift anyway?" I asked him. I never really thought much about it and I realized only now that it had never come up and I had never seen him use it.

Maybe he was a mind reader too, like his son.

"Oh, I thought that you already knew. It's really rare, which might explain why my children are so very gifted," Carlisle smiled proudly at each of them. "It's innate capability—the ability to naturally have skills and/or knowledge typically earned through learning."

"Does that mean you can do anything and you know everything?" Chris asked, sounding awed.

Carlisle laughed. "Hardly. Knowing everything would be omniscience and that is not within my power. In my case, it is mostly limited to knowledge, but I still have certain skills that I never actually learned."

"Like what?" Chris eagerly.

"Don't ask that. He will find a way to make it sound boring," Alice interfered.

"Thank you, Alice," Carlisle said.

"Anytime, Dad."

"Okay, so how does it work? You just know things that others have to learn?" I asked curiously.

"Yes and no. I have to be confronted with those things first before I can attain them. If I read a book for instance, I don't have to read it carefully, it's enough for me to read a passage every now and then."

I would have asked more questions but Alice just continued to whine.

"Chris, you could be a nice friend and give me a clue so I know what to look for," she tried to persuade Chris.

Said person wasn't even listening, since she was entirely occupied with her cake.

"Chris!" Alice yelled to gain her attention.

"What?"

"A clue?"

"For what?"

"The genies."

"You want to know who our genies are?" Chris asked in surprise.

"Yes, of course. I want those three wishes," Alice answered.

"You do realize that our genies are human right?"

"What? I thought you had real genies." Alice sounded disappointed.

"Alice," Edward sighed. "Where should they have gotten real genies?"

"They could have imported them."

"Of course, despite the fact that the genies are hiding from every other kind of being, the Pyros should be able to import a couple of them," Edward replied sarcastically.

"It could have been possible," Alice said in a small voice.

"You could give us a clue anyway," Emmett choked out between two bites.

"Fine, but only the official clue," Chris grumbled.

"Official clue?" I repeated in wonder.

"Yes. We didn't think that anyone would just stumble across the lamps, so every Pyro is allowed to share a certain piece of information if someone asks him. Of course they should make it seem as if it was against the rules to answer, but Martin at the apple stand has practically told everyone the same thing already."

"Huh. And here I thought we had great persuading skills," Emmett commented.

Chris only rolled her eyes at him.

"So what is the clue?" Alice asked impatiently.

"Two of the genies dance twice a day."

"That was not a clue, that was telling her the answer," Dylan mocked.

"Before you jump to any wrong conclusions, our performance here takes place every hour," Chris said to Alice, even if it was clearly meant for Dylan.

"There is more dancing?" Jasper asked.

Chris sighed and nodded. "You can't imagine how much work that was. Janan and Jensen were drilling everyone like crazy."

"So where is the other dancing performance?" Alice asked.

"You might get to see it," Chris answered and got up.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to change. You don't think that I'll walk around in this outside the harem, do you?" Chris didn't wait for an answer as she skipped away.

"Hmm...well she sure changes outfits often," Carlisle noted.

"So do I...I think I have about five different outfits for one day," I told him.

"Really? How come we never got to see that?" Edward asked.

"You saw me in the bathing suit and the two dresses. And right now I'm wearing my royal free time robe."

"It's not fair that you get to change so often. You don't even appreciate that as much as you should," Alice complained.

I didn't reply to that. A few minutes later Chris appeared behind me and smiled brightly.

"It took me a lot of convincing to get Steve to hand out my final Sari. Now we match and he has to make a new one for tomorrow," she said gesturing toward her new attire.

She was wearing a white Sari now.

"Seriously, I don't see why you got changed. That scarf is see through, so basically your midriff is bare again and you could have stayed in that other outfit," Alice said.

"Shut up," was the only answer she got. "The time is up, so we kind of have to get lost now."

"Why?" Emmett asked with a pout, even though he and his father had killed the cake already.

"Like I just said, the time is up and now the harem will be closed for male costumers, so I have my break now, seeing that the service will be taken over by our men."

I looked around and noticed that more boys were walking around now, all of them vanishing in one of the rooms in the back.

"Is there going to be a male belly dance performance now?" Rose asked excitedly.

"Yes and no, the guys settled for sweaty fire-spitting with rhythmic elements," Chris explained, grinning when she saw Rose's eyes widen. "But unfortunately, you guys don't have a reservation, so I guess you will not be able to see it." Rose glared at Chris, but she only laughed. "It might be possible to get us girls a table for tomorrow, though."

"What for? You have me, Rose." Emmett sounded a little offended.

"Yeah, yeah," Rose waved him off.

"Let's just go," Dia proposed and rose, pulling her husband along.

The rest of the parents got up as well, before we all dragged ourselves to our feet.

"Didn't you girls want to go to the yoga class?" Emmett asked, looking at his watch. "I'm heading back soon, so we can go together."

"But I wanted to find a genie," Alice said with a frown.

"You can come here later and find one," Rose told her.

"Will you be coming with me?"

"Can't. I have to work—charm the people in."

"I can go with you," Dylan suggested lazily while we made our way to the door.

"Only you?" Alice didn't sound very keen on that idea.

"I can come with you guys as well," Jasper threw in with a sigh.

"What? No, you can't. You'll spend your breaks assisting me," Emmett protested.

"Oh come on, you will survive without me."

"Yes, I know, but I'm not missing the opportunity to order you around."

"Fine, then I will go with Dylan," Alice agreed and showered her brother with millions of rules that went along with her idea of a genie search.

"Alright, kids, I think this is where we are going separate ways again and I must say it was very awkward to hang with y'all," Derek then said, slinging his arm over Cals shoulder and dragging him along. Carlisle went after them reluctantly, sending a small wave at the rest of us.

"I didn't know that your dads were such good friends," I noted.

"It's not that surprising really. Dad is a lot like Jasper, even if it doesn't seem like it in the beginning, and obviously Emmett and his dad are almost the same. Well and Carlisle and Edward are pretty alike as well, so it figures that they would get along," Rose explained, making it sound like an educational theory.

"And the moms?" Chris asked, looking after them as they had just taken off.

"That is a little different," Jasper said, shaking his head. "Our mom likes beautiful people and those two are beautiful as well as intelligent, so they are in her good book. She actually likes them, even if she sometimes seems as if she doesn't."

"My mom is very fond of Esme and she once said something about Ms. Hale being quite funny," Emmett told us.

"Funny?" Dylan asked.

"Yes. Funny."

"Even I am surprised by this information," Rose said.

"Your mother probably didn't hear it right," Dylan reasoned.

"She is capable of being funny once in a while," Jasper defended his mother.

Rose snorted. "Only when there are no other people around," she said.

"She was not funny when I visited you...maybe I should visit you guys again," Alice exclaimed, her eyes shining brightly at her idea.

"No," Rose immediately protested.

"Why not? Don't you like having me around?"

"Of course I do, just not at my mom's place. We'll all go crazy there."

"Fine, then I will visit you at your dad's place," Alice said and then suddenly looked like she had an idea. "We all could visit you there!" she practically shouted.

"Um, don't you think you might have to ask us before you plan any kind of adventures for us?" I asked her.

"No, I don't think that. You wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to live in a normal magic household. The school has too modern standards for you to know how it really should be."

"When exactly do you expect all of us to do that?" Emmett asked, sounding intrigued by the idea.

"Well, since we are spending Thanksgiving with your crazy family, I guess we could celebrate Christmas at the Whitlock residence."

"No way, I want to celebrate Christmas with my parents," Chris protested right away.

Alice huffed. "Okay, then I will think of something, but we will do it and I believe that one of the twins invited us to visit them as well."

Chris threw a horrified look in my direction. Alice and the rest of them in our normal Phoenix lives? Not a good idea. In fact, a very very bad idea.

I didn't say that out loud though, fearing some kind of outburst from Alice.

Luckily the general attention shifted to something else when suddenly music blared from somewhere.

Chris groaned.

"Where is the music coming from?" Rose asked.

"That's the question that nobody asked in High School Musical," Chris mumbled.

I laughed at that. Chris, Raven, and I had spent numerous hours with analyzing the logic of the movies.

I watched how suddenly a few people in the crowd and some of the workers at their booths jumped up and started singing, while somehow getting together in a group and started dancing as well.

This was like HSM in real life. Oh what has the world come to?

"Try to find a genie in that crazy crowd, I'm going to get myself an apple," Chris said and sauntered of to the guy at the entrance who was swaying along to the music and juggling a few of his apples.

I watched the little dancing show and came to the conclusion that this was more of a Bollywood thing. I didn't understand a single word they were singing and the dancing didn't involve any basketballs, so this was definitely Bollywood.

I was a very, very lucky person to be part of the Hydros and not the Pyros.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Rose helped me get my makeup off, and I sighed contently when I was back in my comfy jeans and t-shirt combo.

"You know, I thought being a servant would be a lot worse, but all I actually got to do was get the glitter off your face. Poor Jasper, he should have been picked by a queen that already has servants," Rose joked lightheartedly when we walked through the dimly lit ice-town, arms linked together.

I giggled. "I don't think I would have even made you do that if Cynthia hadn't had the sudden urge to stalk Dylan, along with some other girls of the Cullen fan club."

"Aw, you poor girl. So many girls want to steal your man," Rose cooed.

I sighed. "You're lucky they're not all after Emmett."

Rose snorted and shook her head. "It hasn't always been like this, believe me. Remember the little story of me and Emmett that I told you?" she asked and I nodded. "Well, one of the reasons I was certain that he didn't notice me was because there were always hundreds of girls around him. You should have seen that."

"How exactly did you get them to stay away?"

"I told them to fuck off, otherwise I would be after their sorry asses, but don't think that stopped them."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that the girls in this school are sneaky. They're not all after Jasper, because he has never been available, but the other three guys were, and for a very long time."

I waited for Rose to continue since her tone told me that she was not finished.

"We are not in the same classes as the boys, so we don't get to see what goes on in their classrooms and during their little breaks. And if we weren't always with them, we would also get some of that during the lunch break."

"Some of what?" I asked, already having an idea of what she was talking about.

We just left the Hydro section and saw a group of five girls standing around our boys. Alice and Chris were nowhere to be seen.

"That," Rose grumbled.

I watched those girls. One of them seemed to be one of the college students and she was flirting shamelessly with Edward, while two little girls were jumping up and down, wanting Emmett to sign their t-shirts.

The one that talked to Jasper looked a little frustrated and was almost grinding against him, but he was not paying attention to her in the slightest, while Dylan enjoyed the attention he got from a girl with purple hair.

"Let's watch them," Rose suggested, stopping me from going any further.

I frowned at her. I had just done that.

"I want to watch their reactions for a bit," Rose explained, looking amused at the scene in front of her.

Emmett was being nice and signed the t-shirts before mussing the hair of the one girl and punching her lightly on her shoulder. She scowled at him in return.

Jasper seemed to be looking everywhere, but the girl in front of him and it took me a few moments to realize that he was looking for Alice. I could tell that by looking at his face, which had this strange expectant and excited expression on it. Edward looked frustrated and was continuously running a hand through his hair, nervously looking up every now and then.

And Dylan...well he was being Dylan.

"We should appreciate our guys more," Alice suddenly sighed beside me. Where the heck did she come from?

"I'm already doing that, I don't know what you are doing in your free time with Jasper, but if you don't already appreciate him properly, he might be looking for a new girlfriend," Rose quipped.

Alice let out a strangled noise that seemed to be voicing frustration and anger, but she quickly returned to smiling brightly. "Does that boy look to you as if he was looking for a new girlfriend?" Alice asked rhetorically.

"No, he looks like a sexually frustrated guy who is looking for the girl that is supposed to satisfy his primitive needs," the voice of Chris chimed in. She was just joining our little group, her gaze fixated on the group of boys.

"Wha—" Alice started, but then quickly snapped her head at Rose. "Did you tell her?" she demanded.

Rose looked at her in confusion. "Tell her what?"

"That Ja—" She then thought better of it and turned to Chris. "How do you know?"

"Know what?" Chris asked, sounding just as confused as Rose. She hadn't even been paying attention to Alice after her comment.

Alice looked back and forth between Rose and Chris, who both looked truly confused.

I couldn't help but feel a little left out.

"If you're asking me why I know that you are not screwing Jasper in your free time, it's because you told me," Chris said eventually.

"Oh we're talking about Alice's virginity?" Rose asked, interested.

"So you don't know?" Alice asked carefully.

"Know what?" the two girls asked back.

"Nothing that should matter to you," Alice said dismissively.

Chris looked at me as if I had the answer to this. I shrugged and pulled a grimace.

"I still think you're a traitor by the way," Alice said to Chris.

Chris didn't look like she cared. Now it was Rose's turn to look at me as if I knew what was going on. Why did they all expect me to know what was wrong with the crazy kids in our midst?

"There you are," Jasper's relieved voice called when he had spotted Alice and the rest of us. He was practically glowing when he strode toward us and held his arms out, knowing that Alice would be jumping into them. And she did just that.

Emmett and Edward noticed us as well and showed the same kind of relief on their faces and let their little fans stand there on their own to come and join us.

"Who was your little friend?" I asked Edward casually.

Edward ran a hand through his hair again, looking back at her in frustration before he quickly grabbed my wrists to pull me close to him. It was again one of those movements that were too fast for anyone to catch.

"No one that I look forward to seeing again," he assured me in a murmur and pressed his lips on my forehead lightly.

I felt a massive amount of frustration radiating from Chris. I looked up at her in surprise and found her staring at me and Edward with crossed arms and a dark expression.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

She shot me a quick dark look, rolled her eyes, turned and started prancing away.

"Hey, wait, I wasn't done with your traitorous ass yet," Alice called after her, apparently done with Jasper for now. Alice's loud voice seemed to have gotten Dylan out of his little world as well, which was a miracle considering that the poor rejected girls all had moved on to him.

"Dylan, we are going home, so say goodbye to your friends for now," Emmett sang in a highpitched voice.

Dylan only rolled his eyes and jogged up to us. "What's wrong with her?" Dylan asked looking ahead.

"I'm not sure. She is frustrated about something, but—" Dylan cut me off.

"Frustrated? She's being her usual self. You don't want to be around when Alice actually gets frustrated."

"Alice?" I looked at where he was looking and saw that Alice seemed to be persuading Chris or something, going as far as shaking her to emphasize her words. Chris only pushed her off and shook her head at the little pixie.

"What are they talking about?" Rose asked, tilting her head slightly.

"She's still after a genie," Edward replied.

"Oh, that," Dylan said dismissively.

"Didn't you find one?" Emmett asked him.

"If we would have, Alice wouldn't be like this now."

"So Chris is a traitor because she's not spilling? Ah, Alice, way to twist the facts," Rose giggled.

"No, actually more that, some of the clues apply to Chris—"

"But she didn't dance in that ridiculous Bollywood impersonation."

"Yeah, but I spent my time getting more clues with Alice. Plus the first clue we got could apply to her as well."

"What clue was that again?" Emmett asked.

"One of the genies snatches apples from that apple guy," I recited.

"When did Chris snatch an apple?"

"She didn't...at least not when we were there, but you should have bought one of them," Dylan replied.

"Why? It's just an apple."

"Yeah, a cinnamon flavoured apple."

We all ahhed and ohhed at this revelation, except for Emmett.

"I still don't get it."

Rose sighed. "While you were busy playing pig with your daddy, Chris admitted to be addicted to cinnamon."

"So because of some apples, you came to the conclusion that Chris is a genie?"

"Well, no, there were some other clues," Dylan replied with a yawn.

"So if you know that already, why isn't she fulfilling your wishes?"

"Because we have to find the lamp, not the genie, and that is what Alice has been trying to get out of Chris the whole time."

"Does Chris know that you guys know?" Rose asked.

Dylan shook his head.

"Well the whole genie thing is great, but does nobody care what kind of hell I went through today?" Jasper interrupted.

We all turned to look at him, even Alice did although she shouldn't have been able to hear him.

Alice was immediately next to Jasper and glared at Emmett. "Did you break him?" she asked menacingly.

"Break me?" Jasper asked in confusion.

"Seriously Alice, I don't swing that way," Emmett laughed and hugged Rose close to his side.

Jasper's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between the two of them. "You better not, I will not share him."

"You do realize that you are dating a girl?"

"Shut up, Emmett!" Jasper hissed, only earning a booming laugh.

The bickering went on and on and eventually Rose joined in, having to defend Emmett.

I watched the scene and shook my head at them.

"Remember, to you they are all just friends, but I am related to half of them," Edward whispered to me, pretending to be disgusted.

"I know, I can tell. You are almost as pretty as Alice."

"I am not pretty. Stop hanging out with your sister, it's not good for you," Edward growled playfully and poked my side.

"I'm only telling the truth."

"Alright, if I am pretty what are you?"

"Incredibly supermegafoxyawesomehot, hyper, and heavenly gorgeous," I replied, smiling like someone in a toothpaste advertisement, while flicking my hair over my shoulder and striking my best model pose.

Edward just stood there and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you disagree?" I asked him.

"I would say that you are incredibly—" he made a slightly confused face, "—supermegafoxyawesomehot, hyper, heavenly, and extraordinarily gorgeous."

The others had walked on without us. Edward swiped my off of my feet and had me on his back before I could even think of taking my next breath.

"You gotta stop doing that," I said lazily.

He turned his head so I could see his grin. "It's not my fault that you aren't only getting my heart racing."

"I'm starting to think that you know hundreds of cheesy lines for every situation by heart," I teased him, gently tugging at his ear.

"I do, but every time I'm with you I forget everything I ever knew and I to let my heart speak," he said in a voice that practically smelled, it was so cheesy.

"I think that is the worst that you have said," I laughed.

He chuckled as well. "I'll work on that."

"Enough you two, it's like being in the middle of a freaking romance novel," Chris complained beside us.

I hadn't even realized that we had surpassed the other and caught up with her. You'd think I would have noticed when we walk passed a bickering bunch of teenagers. Now that I was paying attention, I heard them behind us.

"Are you upset with us?" Edward asked Chris.

"Should I be upset?"

"Not that I know of. But then again, you are always upset with me."

Chris sighed. "I am not upset with you," she said quietly.

"Well, what's wrong then?" I asked her, looking down on her. Now I knew how it was when Edward looked at me.

"Nothing."

She was lying, I knew that without the bond. But now it was not frustration anymore that I felt, it was worry.

Chris probably sensed that I was still looking at her and she sighed in defeat. "I'm starting to get the feeling that everything is a little too normal and carefree. Shouldn't we be in some kind of major trouble or something?"

"We are not in trouble," I reassured her, not even buying that lie myself.

Edward coughed to hide his laugh and Chris shook her head in mock sadness. I smacked Edward on his shoulder for laughing and scowled at Chris.

"Well, maybe we are, but I think we are safe for the time being."

"Until they find us at Mr. Decour's house," Chris mumbled. "It's surprising that they don't already know."

"Why are you so negative today?" Edward asked.

"I was dancing around half-naked all day and had to be nice to every freaking guy that spoke to me. Plus I didn't sleep well." To confirm that, Chris yawned. "By the way Edward, I don't appreciate you rummaging through my head at night. If you want to know what your brother is doing, you might as well read his mind," she added.

"I wasn't reading your mind and what you two are doing is none of my concern."

"Why is everyone—ugh, forget it."

"So there was someone in your mind?" I asked.

"Felt like it for a brief second, but I fell back asleep and dreamed something weird. I don't remember much, but the color red was in it a few times." She showed me the vague memory of her dream. The color had something strangely familiar, but then again it wasn't the first time I saw something red. But somehow this reminded me of a dream that I had a couple of weeks ago. I had dismissed t since it wasn't bad or anything, but somehow red hair had been involved.

"Red hair?" Chris asked.

"Uh...yeah."

"Uh oh," Edward let out.

"What?" Chris and I asked at the same time.

Edward let me down to walk on my own and then he vanished in a flash.

"Where did your sex slave go?" Chris wondered.

I glared at her, but she didn't seem to notice.

We had almost reached the door of Mr. Decour's house, when he reappeared next to me.

"I'm such an idiot," he breathed.

I silenced Chris with a look, knowing that she had been about to comment that. "What's wrong?"

"I just looked through the register once and I could really kick my ass for that alone, since I could have done that earlier," he rambled.

"What register?"

"The school has a register where every single person is listed, including their powers."

"How in the world did you just get a look at that?" Chris exclaimed.

"I had to snatch my dad's keys, but that's beside the point. First of all, we could have looked in there ages ago, and secondly... I have two explanations."

Since we had stopped at the door, the others now reached us. Alice looked like she was about to say something, but I gestured for her to be quiet.

"First of all, do you remember when you said that, when Irina was fleeing, it looked like the shadow grabbed her?" he asked, looking at me and Chris. We nodded. "Well, Demetri is a shadow."

I suppressed the urge to ask what exactly that meant.

"And the other thing is Victoria. She is a dreamwalker. The person intruding your minds in your sleep must be her. Most psychs can't get into minds once the person is sleeping, but for her, this is a necessary condition."

"Well, awesome. Now we have to keep up our shields in our sleep as well, how great," Chris grumbled. Judging by the way she started playing with a strand of her hair, she was a little jumpy now.

"Yeah. Another interesting thing...did you know that Mr. Volturi doesn't have a gift?"

* * *

**_A/N:_ So that's it. For now. I'm really working faster this time, because I really want to get to the end of the story. Of this part at least.**

**I thought about renaming this fic, but I don't have any ideas for another title-.- Why I want to rename it? Only because of the sequels. ALthough I wouldn't have to do it if no one has anything against the title: _FASGS: The Guardians_**

**Personally I find it weird but I like the planned name for part three, which would be: _FASGS: Demonic Force_**

**Hmm... I guess I just wrote something like a spoiler...oh well :) You will live, it's not like I have made a final decision.**

**So since you waited so long for this chapter, I thought I would be nice and put in a special preview :)**

Bella PoV

I woke up with black hair fanned out on my face. I groaned and pushed Chris' hair out of my face. Wait? What in the world was Chris doing here?

My mind rushed back to the night before. I remembered that Alice and Jasper had volunteered to take the couch and left the guest room to me and Edward, so why was Chris now here? I opened my right eye a tiny bit and sure enough Chris was lying there.

But what happened to Edward then? That question was answered immediately, when I heard a grunt from behind me and felt Edward shift.

I relaxed and closed my eyes again.

A second later I sat abruptly up and processed the situation properly.

Why the hell am I lying in a bed with Chris and Edward?

I must have said that out loud, because both of them grunted. Chris seemed to be somewhat awake

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I hissed at her.

"No cursing so early in the morning," Chris grumbled.

I let out a sigh of frustration.

"What are you doing here?" I asked struggling to stay quiet, not to wake Edward up.

"Sleeping," Chris murmured and turned.

I looked at her for several moments, before I decided that it would be best to just push her off the bed.

She hit the floor with a loud thud, but apparently not loud enough for Edward to wake up, since he just sighed and resumed snoring.

"Even his snoring is pretty," Chris mumbled as she sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head.

"When will you explain to me what you are doing here?" I asked her impatiently.

"Oh stop being so bitchy. It's not like I interrupted you guys with anything," she replied and got back on the bed.

"That is hardly the point, but you can't just turn up in other people's beds."

"You didn't used to mind it when I crawled into your bed."

"That's because there was no Edward," I whisper yelled.

Chris quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Not everybody tolerates random people in their bed," I added.

"Oh please, I thought it was a secret fantasy of every guy to have twins in his bed."

I groaned. "Could we please just once not try to make everything sexual?"

"I'll think about it as soon as I am awake," Chris replied and slumped back into the pillows, sighing contently.

"You are awake now, so get up and leave!"

"No thanks."

I stared at her disbelievingly, before I let out another sigh.

"Fine, have it your way," I said quietly.

"Did you say something?" Edward's voice was still thick with sleep when he spoke.

I stared at him. Why did that wake him up now?

He was looking at me still half asleep and then spotted Chris.

"What's Chris doing here?" he asked, yawning.

"Nobody knows."

"What time is it?"

"2 AM," I replied bitterly.

"Then don't sit there... just sleep," Edward instructed and pulled me to his side.

"But Chri-"

"Is right now a very uninteresting matter," Edward interrupted me gently.

"I can still hear you guys," Chris remarked, but she didn't sound as if she was actually paying attention.

**Like? Hate? LOooove? I don't care whatever it is, you should review. ANd do you know why? Because I love hearing from you guys and I love replying to reviews, even if I haven't been doing that lately and what I love even more is...ice cream, but that has nothing to do with reviews. So you guys review and I'm gonna get some ice cream :D**


	21. Well Kid, I Guess We Just Happened

_**A/N: **_**Hello, one and all! This is Star's friend here, updating for her. Star currently has no access to any computer, therefore she's been adding the finishing typed touches to this chapter on her brand new iPhone *everyone ohhs and ahhs***

**Sooooooooooooo sorry for such a long wait. Not only did school start back up again a while ag****o—**_**hate you!**_**—but also, Star recently moved into a new apartment *cheers* and has been so "da****m****nass busy" (her words, not mine!)**** with packing ****and unpacking and all that jazz****. As you can tell, she can't even update herself (this is where I come in in all my awesome glory).**

**Now, since I don't know what else to write because I can't ramble quite the same way as Star can, you may all cheer and rejoice and cry with happiness over the fact that you can all waste (IN A GOOD WAY!) some minutes of your lives to read this amazing chapter of this epic story.**

**I read over her A/N from her last chapter, and noted that she said that this one was "already halfway done" and that she was "pretty positive that [she'd] be done in the next few days." What lies, Star. It's okay though, we all love her, right? (nod enthusiastically or you might end up ha****v****ing to wait another treacherous few months for the next update!).**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

**Bella POV**

I woke up with black hair fanned across my face. I groaned and pushed my sister's hair from my face. Wait...what in the world is Chris doing here?

My mind rushed back to the night before. I remember Alice and Jasper volunteering to take the couch and leaving the guestroom to me and Edward, so why was Chris here now? I opened my right eye a tiny bit, and sure enough, Chris was lying right there. But then what happened to Edward? That question was answered immediately when I heard a grunt from behind me and felt his body shift. I relaxed and let my eyes drift shut again.

A second later, I sat up abruptly and processed the situation properly. Why the hell am I lying in bed with Chris and Edward?

I must have said that out loud because both of them grunted. Chris seemed to be somewhat awake.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I hissed at her.

"No cursing so early in the morning," she grumbled.

I let out a sigh of frustration. "What are you doing here?" I asked, struggling to stay quiet as not to wake Edward.

"Sleeping," Chris murmured and turned over.

I looked at her for several moments before I decided that it would be best just to push her off the bed.

She hit the floor with a loud thud, but apparently not loud enough for Edward to wake up, since he just sighed and resumed snoring.

"Even his snoring is pretty," Chris muttered as she sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head.

"When will you explain to me what you are doing here?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh stop being so bitchy. It's not like I interrupted you guys with anything," she replied and got back on the bed.

"That is hardly the point, but you can't just turn up in other people's beds."

"You never used to mind it when I crawled into your bed."

"That's because there was no Edward," I whisper-yelled.

Chris quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Not everybody tolerates random people in their bed," I added.

"Oh please, I thought it was a secret fantasy of every guy to have twins in his bed."

I groaned. "Could we please, just this once, try not to make everything sexual?"

"I'll think about it as soon as I'm awake," Chris replied and slumped back into the pillows, sighing contently.

"You are awake now, so get up and leave!"

"No, thanks."

I stared at her in disbelief before I let out anther sigh. "Fine, have it your way," I said quietly.

"Did you say something?" Edward's voice was still thick with sleep when he spoke.

I stared at him. Why did _that_ wake him up?

He was looking at me, still half asleep, and then he spotted Chris. "What's Chris doing here?" he asked, yawning.

"Nobody knows."

"What time is it?"

"2 AM," I replied bitterly.

"Then don't sit there... just sleep," Edward instructed and pulled me to his side.

"But Chris—"

"Is a very uninteresting matter right now," Edward interrupted me gently.

"I can still hear you guys," Chris remarked, but she didn't sound as if she was actually paying attention.

Edward didn't respond to that. "Sleep, my Bella," he murmured and then started snoring quietly again.

Apparently I was the only one who found this a little strange.

I settled back into the pillows and fell back asleep.

"Now that she's actually supposed to be awake, she is sleeping like the dead," a voice complained, but didn't really sound upset. It was Edward and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"The dead don't sleep," Chris retorted with a yawn.

"Oh really? I never knew that."

"Yeah, yeah. I have a question for you."

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you throw a fit when you noticed me here?"

"I wasn't awake enough to process it correctly, plus isn't it every guys fantasy to lie in bed with twins?" Edward said in a very serious manner, although I knew he was joking.

"I knew it," Chris giggled.

"Jokes aside, I just figured you had your reasons. Why else would you volunteer to be in the same room as me?"

"Just because I can't stand you doesn't mean I hate you."

"That's certainly good to know."

Chris hummed. "It's just a little weird, you know. I feel like I'm losing the connection to her," she then said quietly.

"That's ridiculous, you two are bonded, there is no way that you will ever lose your connection," Edward told her.

"But that's just it, the bond didn't even really exist in that sense before we came here, and even though it's still all new, I feel like Bella is already shutting herself off from me or something." There was a pause before she continued talking. "Bella doesn't seem to be as affected by the bond as I am," she elaborated.

Edward made a thoughtful sound before he spoke, "And you're blaming me for that?"

"Yes...no..." she sighed. "Both, I guess. It's not your fault and I don't 'blame' you, I just think that it's because of you. She's slowly getting more attached to you, and eventually you'll be the one finishing her sentences," Chris answered wistfully. She sighed again and I felt the bed shift. "Ah well, the day was bound to come sometime anyway. You should wake her up or she'll be late to order her faithful minions around."

I heard the door open and close quietly and I knew that Chris had left the room.

My mind slowly processed the conversation.

Did she think that Edward was replacing her? It sounded like it. Was that why she just opened up to Edward a little?

My thoughts were interrupted by Edward.

"Bella, love, I know that you are not sleeping anymore," he mumbled into my ear, tracing light patterns on my arm.

A little smile crept onto my face. "How did you know?" I asked him, not opening my eyes.

"You are a horrible actress," he told me, resting his head on my shoulder now. "Plus your leg twitched when I talked about the twin fantasy."

I groaned and opened my eyes. I had to crane my neck a little to be able to look into his bright green eyes and when I did, I was grinning like a fool.

"Hey," I greeted him stupidly.

"Hey, yourself."

Edward's hair was in it's usual morning mess, sticking into every possible direction. I ran a hand through it in an attempt to tame it, even though I knew it was useless.

"You don't really have weird fantasies about me and Chris, do you?" I asked him. Even to my own ears I sounded a little insecure.

"Does it count if, in the dream, Chris locked you in a tower and then turned into a giant dragon to prevent me from getting to you?" he asked with a grin.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ready to get up?" he asked.

I yawned and nodded.

Edward placed a quick kiss on my lips before he slid off the bed.

The day started like the previous mornings. Alice was already busy planning out all of our breaks. Seeing that today was the last day, she was having a bit difficulty with this, because some of us had some kind of grand finale today.

I had, for instance, along with my water show today, also a few dancing-on-ice sessions with Natalia. I sighed just thinking about it. And then there was...

"Oh," I said quietly when I remembered. How could I have forgotten?

Everyone turned to look at me. I ignored them and focused my attention on Edward instead.

"Do you think I can rent you today?" I asked him.

"I'm sure you could," he replied slowly. "But why would you want to do that?"

"I totally forgot that I have to crown my king today," I explained.

"Crown your king?" Edward asked with a devious grin.

I pulled a grimace at him. "The one that I go to the party with tomorrow," I clarified.

"Which would be me."

I bit my lip and sat down beside Chris. She was eyeing me with a curious expression just like the others.

"Bella?" Edward asked, stretching my name.

"Yes?" I replied innocently.

"Is there something I should know?"

"..." I squeaked quickly.

"Um...hat?" he asked with a dumbfounded expression.

Meanwhile Chris was already shaking with silent laughter. Either she had been rummaging through my mind or she had understood what I said.

Alice was grinning now too and leaned over to Rose to whisper something in her ear.

Oh man, life was so much easier when I had friends who didn't have some kind of freaky superpowers.

"You kind of have to win in the Royal Games to be my date," I repeated slowly.

"Royal Games?" all the boys asked at the same time.

"Yeah."

"Meaning?" Edward motioned with his hands for me to elaborate.

"Meaning that there is a contest and the two winners get to date me and Natalia," I answered reluctantly and stared at a spot on the floor as if I was talking to an invisible bug.

"And why didn't this come up earlier?" Edward asked, sounding a little desperate.

"I forgot. It's not like I was too keen on this idea, so I kind of suppressed it and only just remembered it now," I defended myself.

Edward let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, tell me what I have to do and I'll just go and win this thing," Edward said.

"I can't tell you."

"Do you want someone else to win?" Even if it wasn't very prominent, I could still see hurt washing over his expression.

"No, but I still can't tell you. It was one of Bryce's stupid ideas and one of the rules was that Natalia and I don't get to know what the games are exactly, in order to prevent us from telling our boyfriends or anyone else along those lines."

While Edward looked highly frustrated with that, Alice got more and more excited.

"When do these games take place?" she asked.

"At noon."

"That's perfect, I was already looking for an activity for all of us. Well, I guess we won't be playing Quidditch then," she said and clapped her hands.

"Quidditch?" Both Chris and I asked.

"Yes, the anti-gravity people decided to make a Quidditch field for the last day. Not a big one, but still. It would always be three on three."

"Doesn't sound as much fun as the Royal Games and I bet as soon as the news is out, everyone will be attending those," Rose barged in.

"Hopefully not," Edward grumbled

"Well, we could get Eddie better chances," Rose started casually.

Everyone turned to look at her now

"How?" Edward asked eagerly.

"All of you boys compete."

"That's brilliant," Edward cheered. "And you are going to do it, you all owe me in some way or another," he then added, looking at each of the boys.

"What? No way. When I win a date with Bella, I don't want to share her with Eddie," Emmett protested.

I sighed and just turned my attention to the breakfast. I could care less which one of them won, as long as it wasn't a random person in the crowd.

On our way to the fair, Emmett and Jasper were already planning out strategies for winning, which was ridiculous, because they didn't even know what they were going to be doing.

Emmett seemed to think something along the lines of gladiator fights.

When we got to the fair, I saw what I had been dreading. I suddenly remembered why I had suppressed this information when I saw the hundreds and hundreds of posters announcing the Royal Games. I had been dreading this part of our display. Not only was the attention of hundreds of people on me, but there would be the attention of...well, hundreds of people on me.

"Well, good luck, Bella," Chris said with a grin before she took off.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you will not land in the fangs of some pervert," Emmett reassured me and then left as well.

"And I will make sure that you will not end up with Emmett," Jasper called over to me since he and Rose already departed.

"Well, I'm not sure yet if I will be participating," Dylan said thoughtfully.

"Of course you will," Alice told him in a bossy tone.

"Maybe."

"What do you mean by 'maybe'. I thought you liked Bella."

"I do, but I was planning on spending as much time as possible in the Pyros display."

"Why? Are you upset because Chris is being nice to all those guys drooling over her?"

They were obviously talking about their later visit at the display. According to them, Chris had been flirting with every male within her reach and charmed them all with her smile. At least that was what Alice had said. The fact that she had been half-naked probably helped as well.

Alice and Dylan took off, not once stopping their little argument.

I looked at Edward, who was standing beside me and had been awfully quiet.

"Something wrong?" I asked him carefully.

He looked down at me with a calculating expression. "Do you really have no idea what the challenge will be?" he asked, sounding almost desperate.

I shook my head. "Sorry, you would have to read Bryce's mind, and he's been popping Psych Blockers like nobody's business."

Edward growled something that sound vaguely like one of the many curses that Chris usually let out.

"I'm sure it's nothing that you can't handle," I told him as confidently as I could.

I was pretty sure that Edward was rather brilliant in numerous things, but since I didn't know what exactly the games contained, I couldn't be sure that Edward would be able to pass.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Edward when he gripped my shoulders and spun me around so that I faced him.

The look on his face was very aggressive. "I swear that I'm going to win this for you, and if not, then whoever wins is probably more worth your time than I am," he said and then gave me quick and fierce kiss before he let go and left.

I stared after him with wide eyes. I wasn't quite sure what just happened, but if I interpreted his words the right way, he had been telling me that whoever wins should be my boyfriend instead of him.

**Chris POV**

I yawned when Meredith put the chain with the little bells on my ankle.

"Didn't sleep well?" she asked me sympathetically.

"You could say that," I answered, thinking back to last night.

If those idiots would have listened to my protests just once last night, I wouldn't have been forced to sleep with Bella and Edward.

_I walked out of the bathroom, quickly brushed through my hair, and then threw myself on the giant bed, just like the night before. Dylan knew that he was now able to use the bathroom and went in without a word._

_I stretched once before I decided to crawl under the covers and get comfortable on my side of the bed._

_I was sleeping on the left and Dylan to the right and in between us was enough space for another person to sleep there. With some luck, even Emmett._

_I was so exhausted that I barely noticed that Dylan had returned and was now turning of the lights._

_Unlike yesterday, there was no room for awkward silence, because I was already halfway in dream land._

"_Chris?" Dylan's voice cut through the comfortable silence._

"_Hmm?"_

"_I never knew you were such a great dancer," he said casually._

"_I'm not. I'm an average dancer," I grumbled. Despite the childhood belly dancing lessons that Mom had cut off for greater projects, I never managed to be an outstanding belly dancer. Not that I minded, I didn't even want to be a belly dancer. I was already content that I didn't look like a fool when I danced to my favorite songs._

"_Well, I'm not sure about that," Dylan replied. Something in his voice had changed, but I didn't want to bring myself to think about it._

"_You're only saying that because you enjoyed the sight of me in the costume," I sighed._

_Suddenly I felt his breath right on my neck, which startled me since I never felt the bed shift._

"_Especially the costume you wore when you were travelling around on that tiger. You really looked like an Arabian princess," he whispered, alarmingly close to my ear._

_I worked on breathing evenly before I answered him._

"_Did you discover some kind of new fetish for yourself? If yes, I'm not gonna help you live it out," I mumbled, even though I had already forgotten all about my sleepiness._

"_Too bad, I'm pretty sure you are the only one who can help me live out my Chris fetish," he murmured and started running his fingers over my arms, barely even touching me. I knew from a memory that Bella's skin had the tendency to burn when Edward touched her and this felt quite similar to that._

_This was the first time we touched — or rather he — like this since the night before mine and Alice's little adventure. All of that seemed like a distant memory right now._

_I would have welcomed it if Dylan had just left me alone and let me sleep, but he seemed to insist on torturing me. He placed an open mouthed kiss on my shoulder and I yelped in surprise in the same second that I turned around to face him._

"_What the hell?" I asked him with wide yes._

"_Just wanted to make sure that you taste as well as I thought you would," he answered nonchalantly._

_I eyed him closely in the darkness. He was grinning widely._

"_Could it be that your hormones are going crazy after you saw me half-naked today?" I asked him in a challenging tone._

_Dylan snorted. _"_I already saw you naked, remember? From head to toe, and I have definitely not forgotten a thing. Although you didn't have that tattoo on your stomach back then." His hand was suddenly on the spot that had been talking about, somehow laying underneath my shirt. "It's kinda hot," he added and then attacked my mouth before I could say anything._

_I instinctively responded, even though my mind started to wonder why the hell we always ended up like this and why I was supporting this kind of behaviour._

_I felt his tongue trace the shape of my bottom lip and I suppressed the sudden images of Bella and Edward in my head. That was just highly disturbing._

_I granted him the access he craved and let my instincts take over. His hand had already been on my naked skin, so I didn't mind it. When his body suddenly leaned over mine, I also didn't mind, and instead worked on closing the distance. When our bodies were pressed together, I definitely didn't mind and I simply enjoyed the fluttering in my tummy along with the taste on my tongue._

_There were just two very stupid things about letting myself function fully on instinct. And no matter what I had told Bella about being half a virgin, we both knew it was bullshit and that I only told her to annoy her. Well, at least I knew._

_I didn't even know if his hands had travelled too far up or too far down or maybe both, I just knew that he startled me immensely._

_So thing number one that went wrong was that we — or more accurate, Dylan — had pushed against the boundaries. The second thing was that my body reacted before my mind did and I felt my body flare up for a millisecond._

"_Jesus," Dylan hissed loudly and disappeared from on top of me to beside me._

_I was breathing heavily and was slowly processing what just happened in my mind. I didn't look at Dylan and I knew that he was fine because the fire had not been enough to hurt anyone. It was just a little shock to both of us._

_I sighed quietly, remembering a conversation with Raven when she was preaching about older guys._

_I guess I should have taken that more seriously._

"_You could have just said something instead of trying to ash me," Dylan said in a stiff voice._

_I snorted humorlessly. "Right, because my mouth wasn't occupied in any other way."_

_He didn't reply so I added, "And I didn't do it on purpose."_

"_Sure," Dylan said. "I guess Damon was lucky then."_

_I blinked and turned my head to look at him. He was staring at the ceiling and rubbing his chest absentmindedly. I detected a few tense lines on his face and I knew that he was displeased about something._

"_What are you talking about?" I asked slowly._

"_You didn't burn him, did you?" His voice held an emotion that I had never heard from him and I couldn't place._

"_No," I replied almost silently._

"_So his touched must have bothered you less than mine," he continued._

_I sat up and stared at him. It was jealously that I heard. At least I thought it was._

"_No, I—"_

"_Obviously, yes. Otherwise he wouldn't have..." he trailed off and turned away._

_I frowned in confusion, not knowing what he meant._

_He wouldn't have...well, what? I rummaged through my mind for anything that suited this situation and his unfinished sentence until it clicked._

"_You think that Damon and I..." I was only voicing my thoughts, so I didn't bother finishing the sentence. "And you are upset because we didn't? Or don't or won't or whatever."_

_Dylan didn't answer. I narrowed my eyes at him which he didn't see since he had turned his back to me._

"_I can't believe you're only upset because I won't let you fuck me," I hissed. Both he and I cringed at my choice of words, but I didn't bother to occupy myself with that any longer and disentangled myself from the sheets so that I could get up._

"_Where are you going?" Dylan asked in surprise when he noticed I had gotten up._

"_Home," I hissed and then stomped out of the room._

I sighed at the memory. No matter what, it never seemed to go right between us. One of us always managed to mess up. Well, some people are just meant to be and others are not.

"Boyfriend troubles?" Meredith asked.

"I don't have a boyfriend," I said calmly while brushing my hair.

Meredith made a weird noise that sounded strangely like a snort but then spoke in a normal voice. "Well, you only have to make sure that no weirdos find your lamp, otherwise you might not be able to go to the party with Dyl—uh, I mean whatever person you want to go with."

I decided to ignore her little slip up. "Sounds like someone found your lamp."

That brought a scowl to her face and I couldn't help but giggle at her.

Just then Janan entered the dressing room.

"Morning, kiddos," she greeted.

"Hey, Janan guess who's lamp has been found," I asked her still laughing.

Janan's eyes flitted over to Meredith. "Who?" she asked excitedly.

"Dario Caine," she mumbled darkly.

"You don't mean the one who always hangs out with Dean and Damon, do you?"

"That's exactly the one that I mean."

"He wished for you to be his date?" I asked in surprise. In all honesty, Dario never seemed like a guy who was actually interested in any kind of dating, so this was kind of surprising.

Meredith threw me one last dark look before she went out of the dressing room.

"Well, that answers the question," Janan noted. "Good thing that I am not a genie."

"Yeah, you are really lucky," I sighed, remembering Alice's persistence. I still wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad thing when I had to fulfil her wishes.

Maybe I should just find out where Dean's lamp was and lead her to that one.

I threw my scarf over my shoulders and left the room as well.

I strolled over the still empty sand place and just enjoyed the burning heat of our fake sun. I hadn't gotten to enjoy it before, because I had always been distracted.

"Hey, Chris," a voice called.

I opened my eyes, not even aware that I had closed them. I turned to see Jensen walking towards me. "I haven't done anything wrong, so you can't scream at me yet," I informed him and resumed my walk.

"I wasn't going to scream at you," he said as if that had been obvious, which it hadn't.

Never mind how much the girls swooned over him because of his "dreamy ocean blue eyes" and his "adorable chestnut curls" and not to forget his "sexy arms," each and every one of them was also kind of annoyed with him, because he was the one council member that could be Simon, if we were some kind of casting show. Most conversations that I had with him involved him screaming at me for not doing what he demanded, like for instance not helping the others with the sun even though I could have done it on my own. At least that's what he had said.

The only normal conversations I had with him was when he asked me to move so he could pass, so I thought that it wasn't so wrong to assume that he was going to scream at me since there was plenty of space for him to move passed me.

"Well, what do you want then? I'm not doing the fire show, the flaming hula hoops work just fine without me," I said to him.

"I wasn't going to ask that."

I eyed him with raised eyebrows and waited for him to continue. Now that I actually looked at him, I noticed that something was off. He was rubbing his hands awkwardly in front of him and was looking at the ground. When he didn't say anything for several moments, I got impatient.

"Well?" I pressed.

"Oh yeah," he said, sounding like he had been somewhere far away with his thoughts. "I just wanted to ask if you want to go to the party with me tomorrow." Despite the nervousness I had just seen, he was sounding very confident. Maybe I had just imagined it. "Well?" Jensen mimicked.

"Why do you even want to go the party with me?" I asked him in confusion.

He just looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Why not?"

"Because constantly shouting at me and ordering me around doesn't seem like there was ever any interest in dating me. Did you lose a bet?"

"First of all, I was screaming at everyone, and secondly, I didn't lose the bet. The loser was supposed to ask Liz," he retorted.

"And what about the whole bossing me around?"

"Oh, that was only so that I could talk to you," he said dismissively.

"Have you ever heard of casual conversation?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Sure I have, but that's hardly any fun. It's a lot funnier when you are pissed."

I only shook my head in disbelief. Why in the world was I always surrounded by idiots?

"So, do you want to go to the party with me or not?"

I thought about it. I hadn't thought much of the party. Every time that I did, I just thought that it would be our usual group and I would probably end up with Dylan when the couples all decided to spend some quality time together. But seeing that Edward had to win his quality time first, I guessed that we might not go as an entire group. Maybe a date would be a good idea, even if the thought of a date brought Dylan's face to my mind. I sighed. Last night's fiasco had not been a topic of discussion yet – as a matter of fact, we haven't talked since then. It might be a good idea to talk about whatever needs to be talked about and maybe, just maybe, we would go to the party together. Or maybe not. I really didn't know. I had never met a guy that was so infuriating. He changed his mind as fast as a girl changed clothes and... I just used song lyrics in my inner musings.

"Are you still with me, Chris?" Jensen asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of my haze and smiled halfheartedly at him. "I'm not sure yet," I told him.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "You're not sure?"

"Yeah, you know Alice always has the craziest ideas and she might be planning something ridiculous and I wouldn't want you to suffer along with me," I explained lamely. It didn't even sound convincing to me.

"Wait, you are talking about the date now?" Jensen asked in confusion.

"Yes, of course I am. What else should I be talking about?" I asked, equally confused.

"I just thought... You know what? Never mind." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Was that a no?"

"Err, no."

"Yes?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm confused," he admitted.

"It was a maybe," I clarified.

"Maybe?" The look on his face showed that he didn't like that much.

"Well, apart from crazy Alice, there is also the matter that someone could still find my lamp and demand that I go to the party with him. It's a wish that is within my power to fulfil," I told him. This was definitely more convincing, perhaps because it was not a lie.

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Right, I totally forgot about the lamps. It's really awful how we are all selling ourselves for the fair."

"Tell me about it," I hummed in agreement.

"Alright, I'm gonna go and make sure everyone is ready," he said and turned around. "I won't be waiting all day for an answer."

"Nice to know," I mumbled.

"What? You're not the only one who looks hot in our costumes," he told me with a shrug.

I didn't have anything to say about that, which only cause Jensen to laugh while he departed.

I saw that Martin had already set up his stand and quickly dashed over where he was polishing the apples. From all the snacks that were sold here, I loved the apples the most.

"Morning," I greeted him brightly.

Martin looked up and pulled a grimace before he threw the apple at me that he had been polishing. "Morning," he replied.

"You're not in a good mood," I observed and bit happily in my personal piece of heaven.

"I'm never in a good mood," he grumbled. "And you should stop stealing my apples."

I giggled. "Stop acting like a grumpy old man. I know that you are capable of being happy. And I didn't steal it, you gave it to me."

"Only because you would steal it otherwise."

"Is that really the point of this conversation?"

"Just get lost. I can't deal with you prissy girls right now," he said and threw another apple at me, which I luckily caught.

"Jeez, I'm sorry for talking to you."

I wanted to turn and walk back to the harem to enjoy the last minutes of peace and quiet before I had to waltz around the place and flirt with everything that looked male, all because our council thought it would be funny. Unfortunately, there was no time for that.

Just when I turned, the gates opened and I heard the much dreaded noise that always accompanied a mass of people.

I let out the millionth sigh today before I put on a fake smile and sent a quick prayer to heaven, wishing for all of this to end soon.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"I am exhausted and it hasn't even been half of the day," I groaned when Meredith, Janan, and I had made it to our dressing room after our ridiculous dancing session.

"You are lucky that you are on break now, I have to go outside now and play beautiful and mysterious Arabian princess or whatever it is that we are supposed to be doing," Janan complained.

"I feel like we are strippers or something along those lines," Meredith groaned.

"I said that a circus would be way cooler," I told the two of them.

"As if that was ever going to happen. We are the Pyros and we always do the ridiculous stuff, even though this a lot better than what we usually pull off. Must be because I am on the council now," Meredith said, smiling at herself in the mirror.

"I'm sure it is."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Me? Never."

Meredith huffed, but grinned anyway.

I quickly changed outfits. I was already wishing for the day to end so that I could be free from wearing these outfits. Now I had to wear a pair of big orange harems pants and a red tank top. It was the most comfortable thing that I got to wear so far and I hoped that I didn't have to change again any time soon.

I brushed through my hair once again, humming quietly to myself.

"Um, Chris?" Meredith's voice interrupted my humming.

"Hmm?"

"Your bells," she explained, gesturing to my ankle.

I looked down and groaned when I realized that the bells were ringing. "No," I whined instantly while Meredith and Janan giggled. "Why me?"

"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," Janan reasoned, still laughing a little.

"Whatever," I huffed in response and ran my finger over the pendant dangling from my neck at all times. Not that I actually needed something to remind me of Dylan, since he was always around somewhere.

I counted quickly to three before I beamed to where I'd hidden my lamp.

"And here I was hoping you would wear something pink," I heard Dylan's lazy voice from behind me.

Like I said, he's always around somewhere.

I spun around and saw him leaning casually against the wall. I sighed when I saw my lamp in his hands. Maybe I should have found another corner to hide it, but then again, I don't think that would have saved me. Maybe I should have just told Alice where that stupid lamp was – whatever Alice would wish for couldn't be nearly as bad as the things that her brother would come up with.

"What do you want?" I asked, not trying in the slightest to hide the annoyance in my voice.

"Well, actually I just wanted to talk to you," he stated. "And I figured there was a higher chance if I found your lamp."

I looked at him, trying to read his emotional state, but his face gave nothing away. "Alright, you're talking to me now," I replied. Even to my own ears I sounded like a bitch. Geez, I really wonder how people manage to put up with me sometimes.

"I...I just..." Dylan was now looking down as he scratched the back of his head almost bashfully. If I didn't know any better, I would say he was nervous. But that was ridiculous. Why would he of all people be nervous?

"I just wanted to apologize for last night." He spoke so fast that I almost didn't catch it. Almost. I was pretty sure that the grin now spreading across my face wasn't exactly what you would call friendly.

"What about last night?" I asked innocently.

Dylan's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes at me. "You know exactly what I mean," he accused.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about," I retorted with an innocent shrug.

"For once, can't you just try and be serious?"

"Do you really wish for me to be serious now?" I asked him, hoping that he would say yes.

"Uh, yes, why else would I say that?"

"Alright, then I'll be serious now," I told him calmly. He didn't need to know that I was internally rejoicing. I just may have created a new topic to fight over, but he didn't know that yet.

Dylan looked at me and I guess he started to wonder what the hell wasn't working right in my head. Sure, I was moody and not something people would call stable, but he certainly wasn't one to talk – if anyone had even worse mood swings than me, it was him. And he didn't even have PMS to blame for it.

He took a deep breath and then pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against, closing the distance between us. He looked down at me with intense eyes and a flash of our Halloween kiss flew through my mind. _Silly Chris, you shouldn't be thinking about this stuff right now._

"Chris, I'm sorry about how I behaved yesterday. I didn't mean to insult you in any way," he said, his voice so low and husky that I had to suppress a shiver.

For a few moments, neither of us spoke. I wanted to reply, to tell him that I actually had to apologize as well, but then suddenly, a high-soprano voice interrupted our little moment.

"Dylan, you found her lamp! You are such a genius. Please tell me you haven't used up all your wishes yet!"

I turned around slowly, grinding my teeth together to prevent myself from shouting something at the annoying little pixie. I had just been about to say something nice and cheesy to the idiot in front of me. Of course the one time that I'd actually been close to doing something Bella-like, Alice just _had_ to barge in. Either she was still a wacky psychic, or she did it on purpose. I really would have to have a talk with either Edward or their parents about the fact that his siblings definitely didn't have as good of manners as he does.

Sure, I might not like them as much then because it would be weird if these two actually behaved normal, but it was still a mystery to me how the same set of parents were responsible for an arrogant, uncaring and annoying playboy; a hyperactive, shopaholic and nerve-wracking pixie; and a dense, self-conscious and cheesy know-it-all. It just didn't seem right.

And then again, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

"No, I didn't. They're all yours," Dylan sighed and handed the lamp over to Alice. He seemed to be somewhat disappointed and I guessed that he had sensed that I was about to say something useful for a change.

Well, too bad that I was going to ruin the moment even more.

"Actually," I said slowly and stepped back from Dylan and Alice, "You did use two of your wishes."

"Dylan, how could you? I wanted to wish for something first," Alice complained and smacked Dylan on his arm.

"Ow, stop that," he grumbled rubbing the spot she'd hit before turnign to me. "I didn't wish for anything."

I shook my head. "You kind of ruined my genie entrance by talking before I even saw you," I infromed him, taking one more step back. "Congratulations, you found my lamp and now your wish is my command. Of course I'm not just here to flaunt so I'll do anything you want."

Now that it was actually useful to me, I didn't hate that little phrase as much as I did before.

"And what is that supposed to tell me?" Dylan asked.

"I'll grant you three of all your wishes, but of course you will not get any kisses," I continued in a sing-song voice and smiled brightly as if I was actually into this rhyming nonsense.

"No offense, Chris, but these are some horrible rhymes you got," Alice commented with a giggle.

I shot her a dirty look. "I'm very aware of that, but I didn't come up with that crap."

"So, you are done with your bad rapping?" Dylan asked.

"I wasn't—ugh, nevermind. Yes, I'm done, and if you had listened carefully you would have noticed that I just rhymed you more or less the rules."

"I didn't kiss you if that's what you are trying to tell me. Well, not today anyway," Dylan replied.

A sharp intake of breath was to be heard from Alice. I shook my head, but didn't say anything to comment on that. Alice already knew way more than any average tiny teenage girl should know. Too much knowledge in the wrong hands and we would all be ruled by a fashion-crazed pixie. I shuddered at the thought.

"That is not what I meant," I said calmly. "Your wish is my command and I'll do anything you want... Well, more or less."

The expression on both Alice's and Dylan's face showed that they didn't understand what I was getting at.

I let out a fake giggle and continued. "For a wish you have to wish for something or want something."

Still no change in expression.

I sighed. "You wanted to talk to me and you wished for me to be serious."

Understanding lit up his face, before his expression turned dark. "You tricked me," he accused.

"Not really, I was planning to do that to get the third wish out of you," I said nonchalantly and shrugged.

"Wait, does that mean that there is only one wish left?" Alice asked.

I nodded. "And you can't even use it. The wishes are for finders only," I told her.

"Chris, you are such a traitor," Alice whined and stomped her foot on the ground.

I rolled my eyes at her. "It's not my fault that Dylan hadn't been paying attention."

"How the hell was I supposed to know anything about the rules?" he protested.

I shrugged and didn't answer him, but spoke to Alice. "Maybe, you should just go and see—" I never finished that sentence, because Alice's face already lit up and she dashed away.

She probably already knew that I had been about to tell her where Jensen's lamp was. Poor guy, I could only imagine how Alice was going to force him to carry around all the things that she was going to buy, now that she had someone "willing" to carry them for her. I wasn't even sure if it was against the rules to make the Genie pay...

"You know that technically I still have two wishes, right?" Dylan asked, causing me to turn around once more and look at him.

I simply quirked an eyebrow at him and sent him a half-smile. "No, you don't. I told you that you already used two of your wishes and there is nothing you can do about it," I chirped, being probably a little too pleased with myself.

"You're wrong, pretty lady," he argued and pinched my cheek slightly. "I never actually said that I wish for you to be serious. You asked if I did and I said yes. Don't I have to say the actual words to make the wish official?"

Now he was grinning smugly, while I took on his earlier sour expression. I thought back and realized that he was right, which only made my scowl increase. So much for my cleverness. Maybe I should just give up on this self-proclaimed genius thing, because it was definitely not working for me as much as it used to.

"Fine, have it your way," I grumbled at him. "You have two wishes left. But there is no way that you are going to get the third wish back."

Dylan send me another victorious grin, before he spoke, "That doesn't really matter. I actually didn't even need the second wish. I just wanted to annoy you."

I groaned. What was it with all of those people, wanting to piss me off? It can't be that much fun, can it?

Thinking about the way I enjoyed getting on other people's nerves, I already had my answer.

"If you don't have anything to wish for, I can just go, right?" I asked.

Dylan's eyes widened and he hastily shook his head. "No, you can't go."

I looked at him with in impatience clearly written on my face. "And why not? If I'm not needed, I might as well go and do something useful with my free time, don't you think?"

Apparently he didn't think so because the thoughtful hum that he made led me to think the he was figuring out a way to make me stick around a little longer.

I honestly would never get what he actually wanted from me. One minute it was absolutely nothing, the next he would be everywhere I was to get my attention, then he would tell me just how important I am to him, only to yell at me in the next moment and then give me a present that was somewhat equal to a proposal just so that he can skip off and date some other girl before he breaks it off with her and makes me feel all special again for about three seconds, because he turned into a selfish little bastard after that again.

Am I the only one who is getting a headache from that? This could not be healthy for either of us.

"You are going to be my escort now," Dylan exclaimed all of the sudden. Even though I had been watching him the whole time, I was still startled when he suddenly spoke.

"Um...pardon me?"

"You are going to be my escort. You will have to walk around with me all day, wait for me if you need to—especially since I still have me escort business to do—and just give off the overall impression of enjoying my presence," he explained a little too excited for my taste.

"Over all you want me to pretend that I'm your girlfriend, am I right?" I asked dryly, my hands on my hips and a dark look on my face.

"I see that you understood the concept. Different than me on my escort dates, you will of course be free to kiss me if you feel like it." Yep, he was definitely too excited about this. His grin was mischievous and he actually waggled his eyebrows at me for a brief moment. Whatever happened to the apologetic Dylan a few moments ago, it must have been pretty bad to make this one come back out. Something was obviously wrong with me if I was seriously attracted to this guy and even worse, I might have felt some very faint excitement when I talked about being his girlfriend.

I really needed to have a little chat with Bella soon because I was pretty sure that I was starting to lose it.

"Kissing is against the genie rules," I mumbled lamely, commenting on his last statement.

"I thought it was against the rules to wish for a kiss." Just like last night he was suddenly next to me and what was even worse, I was more awake this time to notice just how seductive his voice sounded. "I only allow you to kiss me if you feel like it, so that shouldn't be against the rules, right?" He twirled a strand of my hair on around his finger and I practically felt his gaze on my face.

I didn't blush, my heart beat didn't quicken or even stop and my breathing didn't change either. I might have been pleased about that if I hadn't been biting on my tongue instead.

I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath, before I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back and freeing it from Dylan's molesting hands. The taste of blood in my mouth enabled me to think normally again.

"I'll be sure to remember that," I said to him, a coy smile in place. "You have to wish properly, though."

Dylan was staring at my hair with a little frown, before he gazed down into my eyes. "I want you to be my girlfriend."

Oh my. Did I just swoon? I might have. Blue eyes, dead serious low and husky voice, combined with his good looks? There was no way that I did not just swoon.

"I really hate you right now," I informed Dylan in a quiet voice.

His hands went through my hair to the back of my head and forced me to face him. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, his lips were on mine.

"No, you don't. You love me," he replied a second later with a grin.

Oh how I wish I could make this stupid grin disappear...

I shook my head briefly and stepped away from him. "This really has to stop," I told him in a disapproving tone.

"Why? It's way too much fun," he answered and walked passed me. He took my hand in the process and tugged me along.

"I figured you might say that."

Dylan only shrugged and pulled me closer to his side. I briefly considered asking him what kind of body lotion he was using that made him smell like aloe and apple blossoms all the time, but thought better of it.

"Chris," I heard a whine come from behind me then.

I turned around and saw an unhappy Alice.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Your stupid friend took his lamp away before I reached it and now I don't have a genie," she kept whining.

I refrained from rolling my eyes and let out a sigh instead. "Sorry Al, I can't help you anymore that I already have."

Alice instantly went fro upset to angry and narrowed her eyes at me. She opened her mouth and I knew that she was going to start another one of her speeches in which she accused me of being a traitor.

Only that the speech never came. Alice had closed her mouth right after she opened it. Her eyes were fixed on Dylan's and my intertwined hands. Now her angry expression changed to one that I couldn't exactly place. Her grin was definitely smug, but her eyes were twinkling with something entirely different. I didn't bother to try and decipher her. Knowing Alice, she was getting carried away and imagined some kind of super romantic tale.

"I'm gonna go and look for Rose. Don't forget that we have to be at the Hydro's display in forty minutes," Alice said, now sounding cheery and skipped away.

"Great. Now I have to deal with Rose and Alice asking stupid questions," I grumbled.

"Is that a problem?"

I glared at Dylan. "Of course it is. What exactly am I supposed to answer?"

He looked completely at ease and it annoyed me immensely. "It would probably be useful if your answer suits the question."

"Gee, thanks; what a wise thing to say. Now I will have absolutely nothing to fear when Alice and Rose ask me if I'm now your girlfriend," I said sarcastically.

"Of course you don't. And do you want to know why?"

"Why?" I looked up at him through narrowed eyes, while he wore a thoughtful expression, not looking at me for a few seconds. Then he turned his gaze back to me and grinned suddenly.

"Because you are."

**Bella POV**

"I think we have to get going soon."

I sighed. "But I don't really want to," I complained.

Edward chuckled quietly, but the sound was a little off. I could tell that he wasn't really happy about the thing himself. Of course he wouldn't be. I honestly didn't see the sense of crowning some idiot as my king when I already had a boyfriend. Sometimes I really wanted to strangle Bryce.

Edward buried his face in my hair, causing his voice to sound a bit muffled when he spoke. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about because I will be the one to win the date with you," he said. He pulled me closer to him and rested his head on my shoulder.

I leaned back and sighed contently. Thankfully we had my dressing room to ourselves, otherwise we wouldn't be able to cuddle up in here.

"I really hope so. It would be one of the few positive things to occur in this week."

I thought back to the beginning of this week and wondered why in the world everything seemed to be more or less normal. It was as if our encounter with Irina and Co. never happened, or at least happened a long time ago. Even more importantly, Mr. Decour still wasn't back and we never really found out how he managed to disappear just like that in front of our eyes. The only persons I had ever seen doing that were Dylan and Chris. Probably also Edward, since he moved too fast for me to actually see.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward murmured, his breath tickling my skin.

I let out a deep breath. "I was just wondering about Mr. Decour's whereabouts," I answered, feeling how Edward tensed up briefly.

"That is really not something to think about right now."

"Why not? Shouldn't we be worried what in the world is taking him so long? Something might have happened to him and it would be our fault then." I shuddered at the thought.

Edward rubbed his hands up and down my arms in a soothing manner. "You really have to stop thinking like that, love. I'm sure that Mr. Decour is fine. He mentioned when we spoke to him on the phone that it might take him a few days, but he will be back by the end of the week. He'll probably return tomorrow."

"I really hope so."

"Stop worrying. You'll get wrinkles and you don't really want that do you?" His long fingers stroke over my forehead.

I turned my head to look at Edward. "Why? Won't you still love me if I get wrinkly?" I asked teasingly.

Edward looked back at me intensely. "I would still love you even if you were dried out, wrinkly and fragile," he answered and then kissed my cheek gently.

"Are you sure about that?" I tried to imagine me as an old lady with Edward by my side. I was having trouble with that.

"Absolutely." He kissed the spot under my ear.

My breath hitched. "That will be a very long time," I informed him in a shaky voice.

"I'm very aware of that," Edward murmured and kissed my neck.

"You will have to put up with Chris for the rest of your life," I said, now imagining an old Chris who was tripping an old Edward.

"Hmm," was all Edward replied, while he placed more kisses on my neck. He moved down and up again and gently bit my earlobe then.

I let out a little surprised yelp. "You'd have to get along with my parents as well," I whispered breathlessly.

I felt Edward sigh and his shoulders slump slightly. He looked up at me with a disapproving expression. "You know, talking about your family is a real turn off," he frowned.

I giggled, slightly nervous, though I had no reason to be nervous. Edward noticed my emotional state and moved us so that I was now sitting on his lap, sideways, enabling me to look at him better.

"What's wrong?" he asked, with a worried expression.

I only shrugged as an answer, since I didn't know it myself. I leaned against Edward's chest and inhaled his scent.

"Bella, I thin—"

"I found them!" a voice suddenly screamed, interrupting whatever Edward had been about to say.

I turned around as much as I could in my current position only to see Rose standing in the door frame, grinning widely at us. She didn't stand there for long though because Emmett pushed her out of the way—careful not to let her fall—with Jasper and Alice following him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Queen and her Prince-not-so-Charming," Emmett said, snickering at his own bad joke.

"Shut up, Emmett," Edward replied with a sigh and I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"Hey, where is Chris?" I asked, realizing that my sister was not here to pick on Edward as well.

Rose and Alice started giggling. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

I only quirked an eyebrow at them. I didn't have to know what they were talking about, did I?

"Is this some kind of joke?" Edward asked sounding surprised and shocked at the same time.

I looked at him and saw him staring at the two giggling girls.

"No, it's not," Alice answered him. "Although it definitely is amusing."

"Uh, what are you guys talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"Maybe we should just go outside and meet the two of them. They are already standing in line for the registration," Jasper suggested.

"Right, right. Let's get going, before the two idiots give our spot to someone else," Alice agreed and led the way out.

I looked at Edward questioningly, but he only shook his head at me.

The two of us got up and followed the others. As soon as we were out in the open, all hope that maybe there weren't going to be so many people for the games vanished.

The line was endless and I wasn't even sure were exactly it started and where it ended.

"This is definitely going to be tough," Emmett commented and then pulled me to his side to hug me fiercely. "But I will not rest until I've made sure that you are safe, Belly-Boo."

"Emmett, I need to breathe," I choked out. "And stop calling me that."

Emmett let go and grinned at me once more. Rose decided that it was time to smack the big goof on his head, while Edward took my hand and gently tugged me along.

I heard Chris before I actually saw her.

"Are you out of your mind? Ugh, I don't even know why I'm asking you this because you clearly are," she complained.

A moment later I saw her standing in line right next to Dylan, who had his arm around her shoulder while laughing hysterically.

Seeing that we were in the middle of a huge crowd, it should be considered strange that I was able to hear Chris so clearly, although there were about a million other voices to be heard. Especially if you considered that Dylan's laughter was silent to me until we actually reached the two of them.

"Aw, already trouble in paradise?" Alice cooed and pinched Chris' cheek.

Chris only slapped her hand away and her scowl increased.

"Don't touch that cheek," Dylan said to his sister, still laughing, "it's a little irritated."

Chris spotted me then and her scowl changed into a pout. "Bella," she instantly whined.

I suppressed a sigh, while Edward chuckled next to me.

"Dylan bit me."

I only looked at her with raised eyebrows, while I heard how Dylan's laughter was getting worse. "He bit you?" I asked, a little confused as to why he would bite her.

Chris nodded and rubbed her right cheek, which looked a little pink and I knew that it had nothing to do with Alice pinching her.

I shot a disapproving look in Dylan's direction, before I placed a hand on Chris' cheek.

She sighed contently when I touched her skin, probably because I focused on spreading water across my palm to cool her irritated skin.

I held my breath for a second, fearing that I might hurt her again, but nothing happened. Chris only closed her eyes and leaned into my touch, relief washing over her.

"How hard did you bite her?" Edward asked his brother exasperatedly.

"Not really hard," Dylan defended himself.

Chris let out a snort and opened her eyes to glare at him. "It hurt like hell before Bella started cooling it. Your teeth are pretty sharp."

Dylan flashed her a grin, showing off his teeth on purpose.

"Hey, just how long is this line?" Rose asked, interrupting the conversation while she looked the mass of people around us.

"It looks a little worse than it actually is because apparently something went wrong with the timing so this line is not only for registration but also for getting tickets for the show. It ends somewhere there," Chris answered and pointed over my shoulder.

I turned to look and only saw a lot of people and not really something like an organized line.

I sighed and turned back to Chris, who took my hand away from her face and sent me a grateful smile.

"So how much longer do we have to wait?" Emmett asked, already sounding impatient as he bounced on his toes.

"Twenty minutes," Alice answered immediately, her eyes once again milky white and unfocused. We all looked at her with strange expressions, although we had seen it happen before.

Alice suddenly started to sway and Jasper was next to her to steady her. While he was holding his girlfriend in his arms, she started to flinch lightly and her still glassy eyes were darting around frantically as if she was trying to keep up with something. And then just as quickly as it started, it suddenly stopped and her eyes returned to normal. She looked around in disorientation and then frowned slightly.

"What did you see, Alice?" Jasper asked her quietly.

"Hmm?" was the answer he got.

"Didn't you just have a vision?"

"Um... No, not really. Why would you think that?" Alice asked him in wonder and looked first at Jasper and then at the rest of us when she noticed that all of us looked kind of worried.

"You were just in some kind of trance or something," Rose told her with wide eyes and an urging voice.

"I was?"

"Yes, and your eyes did that weird thing again."

"Well, I don't remember anything apart from telling Emmett how long we are going to stand here," Alice replied with a nonchalant shrug.

I looked at Edward in search for an answer. He looked back at me and shrugged. "I don't see anything in her mind," he said.

"Maybe we should talk about this a little later when we are not surrounded by a mass of people," Alice suggested looking around with distaste on her face.

The rest of us agreed with that and I decided that it was a good moment to change topics.

"So, wasn't there something really amusing that you wanted to show me or something?" I asked, looking at Rose and Alice.

The two of them exchanged quick looks before they started giggling again just like they had before.

I just looked at them a little at loss what to do with that.

At the same time I felt a strong wave of annoyance come from Chris.

Edward sighed beside me and leaned down to quietly speak into my ear, "Dylan forced your sister to be his girlfriend for the day and that is what is amusing them so much."

My eyes widened when I heard that and I turned to look at my sister, who was currently turning away from me.

In her mind I heard her cursing Edward and his mind reading, Alice and Rose, who found this far too amusing, and Dylan for finding her lamp.

"So you two are together now?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," Dylan answered with a grin at the same time as Chris growled, "No!"

Dylan looked at her and shook his head in mock disappointment, before he pulled her to his side and kissed her.

Seeing them kiss might have been cute if Chris hadn't been struggling so hard and then slapped Dylan afterwards. I would never understand the relationship between those two.

Apparently neither did Chris because her mind was filled with a chaotic web of different scenarios she had found herself in with Dylan.

While the others were commenting on Dylan's and Chris' "public display of affection," I was trying to keep up with her thoughts.

Seeing how the two of them had never been on good terms until Sunday night when she and Alice had vanished.

I pulled a grimace at those memories. Now I knew how she felt when she had seen me and Edward together.

When her mind shifted to the time they spent together while they trained, I decided to shut myself out of her mind.

She should figure that out on her own. I had greater problems. Like a tournament that decided who would be my date for the party tomorrow, and a boyfriend who seemed to think that only the winner of those games will be worthy of being my boyfriend.

I sighed at the less pleasant thought and watched said boyfriend teasing his brother, who didn't seem to mind that much.

"Our little clique is officially weird. I honestly don't want to hear the rumours after the rest of the school finds out about Chris and Dylan," Rose suddenly sighed next to me and rested her arm on my shoulder.

"Um...what are you talking about?" I asked her.

She sent me a little eye roll and a smirk. "About the fact that our group consists of four couples."

I thought about it for a brief second and then nodded in agreement. She was right about that and it would be interesting to know how in the world that happened.

Alice appeared at my other side and nodded as well. "Maybe we should dump the guys and be a group of hot single girls instead. That should be quite interesting," she suggested playfully.

"That should be easy enough to accomplish... for me, at least. I don't know how you plan to break up with Jasper after all these years," Rose said in a serious manner.

I saw how Jasper's ears perk up, despite the fact that he had been in a conversation with the rest of the group.

He strode briskly over to us and before Alice even had the chance to reply anything to Rose's last comment, Jasper had picked her up and carried her over to the others.

"Stop corrupting my girlfriend, Rose," he called over his shoulder to Rosalie, while Alice started giggling.

Rose only huffed at that.

"Oh look! It's her!" a voice suddenly exclaimed in the crowed.

I turned slightly to the side only to see that apparently the general attention had shifted toward me.

I didn't even have time to comprehend what that was all about because Edward was already by my side and put his arm around me in a protective manner and then pulled me along toward Chris and Dylan, who were standing pretty much in the same position.

Chris only lifted an eyebrow at me as if to ask me if I found that just as annoying as she did.

Unfortunately for Edward, I did.

Not that I didn't like his arm around me, but the way he was shielding me from every other gaze except his own was kind of ridiculous. After all, I _was_ the reason why this huge crowd was here in the first place.

I blew a strand of hair out of my hair and just didn't say anything.

Alice squeezed her tiny self between me and Chris and started blabbering happily, while Edward demanded that Emmett stand in front of us and Jasper behind us like some kind of bodyguards.

Rose just looked a little too amused when she came to stand beside Emmett, but I couldn't have commented on that even if I had wanted to, simply because Alice's chatter could not be ignored.

"...and I really think that blue suits you the best, Bella. Maybe mixed with a little white or silver just because of the royalty thing. And Rose is perfect for red, but I really wanted to see Chris in a red dress as well..."

I didn't pay close attention to her chattering, while the line moved slowly. I listened enough to know that she was talking about dressing us for the party tomorrow.

I don't even think that Alice cared whether or not anyone listened, as long as nobody said anything, seeing as she didn't complain when Chris started humming quietly to herself and when Emmett whispered silently with Rose.

It seemed like eternity and three days before we finally stood in front of the registration booth behind which Japree and Bryce stood, both of them wearing big grins on their faces that quickly vanished when they spotted me.

I wasn't entirely sure if it was my death glare or Edward's that caused them to shudder, but I also didn't care.

"Are you two just there for decoration or are you actually supposed to do something?" Rose snapped at them when neither of them moved.

I bit the insides of my cheeks to prevent myself from grinning, while Chris and Alice openly giggled.

Bryce's eyes flitted over to her and narrowed. "I would be nice to us if I were you."

"And why is that?" Rose asked casually, inspecting her shiny red nails.

"Because we're the ones deciding who is allowed to take part in the tournament." The grin on Bryce's face was almost evil, while Japree only rolled his eyes at him.

"Don't I have some kind of veto power?" I asked lamely, already knowing the answer.

The answering look I got told me the exact same thing.

"Just sign in your names," Japree said with a sigh and pushed a list in Rosalie's hands together with a pen.

"Can girls take part too?" Alice asked wide eyed.

Japree quirked his eyebrows at the little pixie and smiled when he saw her bouncing frame. "No, but only because of the sexual orientation of our two main prizes. I just assumed that the list would be safer in her hands then his," Japree replied and nodded his head in Emmett's direction.

Emmett looked slightly offended, but didn't pout for long since Rose passed the list and pen to him.

While the boys scribbled their names onto the paper, I managed to free myself from Edward and turn to Bryce.

"Are you ever going to tell me what exactly is going to happen in those Royal Games?" I asked innocently. I even batted my eyelashes, but Bryce only shook his head.

"You gotta try harder than that if you want to get anything out of me, Swan," he told me with a laugh.

"Would you at least tell me?" Chris' head suddenly appeared right next to me.

"I'm not stupid. You would tell your sister and she would tell her boytoy over there and then there is no real fairness left in the Games."

Chris gave him one of her mean glares, but Bryce didn't look all that impressed. "You really hurt my feelings. I only intended to use that information to sabotage Edward more easily," Chris declared before twirling around swiftly.

I gaped at her when she went over to the boys and snatched the list out of Jasper's hands. She threw the clipboard at Bryce and then stomped over to Dylan, burying her face in his chest and whining about Bryce being mean to her and how he should "persuade" him to get some information out of him.

Clearly she was hanging out too much with Alice. And Rose. And every other crazy person on campus.

Japree took the list while Bryce rubbed his forehead which showed a red mark that showed exactly how good Chris' aim was.

I snorted at that, but quickly bit my lip and tried to stay quiet when I saw the look on his face.

Meanwhile Japree was quickly wielding his wand, making numbers appear on the shirt of each boy.

They had the numbers 178-182.

Looking behind me, I knew that there were still quite a few hundred to come.

As if they had been waiting for me to turn around, an overall cheer went through the crowd when I faced them, causing me to blush deep crimson.

After that, all I remembered was a blur.

It started with people suddenly running toward me, continued with cheers, screams and laughter, went on with people tugging at my clothes and myself—especially my hair—and then ended with people actually starting to beat each other just to get to rip out some of my hair.

The crowd mostly consisted of guys and in this madness, I briefly wondered since when there were so many male students in this school.

I looked around, desperate to find my friends and call for help, but all I saw were arms reaching for me.

And just as quickly as the chaos had started, it ended.

All it took was a furious Edward dashing through the crowd, pushing everyone in his way aside.

When he spotted me, he was immediately by my side, picking me up and running as if our lives depended on it.

Which they probably did.

Merely a few seconds later, he set me down on a bench and automatically started inspecting every inch of my body, not slowing down one bit after his impressing sprint, so it was actually quite hard for my eyes to keep up.

"...gonna kill them...how dare...miserable life...beat them all to hell...dancing on their graves..." Edward was muttering just as quickly as he moved so I only got to hear bits and pieces of the things he said.

He prodded and poked me at every angle he could until I was annoyed enough to simply stick out my leg.

Sure enough, Edward didn't pay attention in his haste and tripped over my leg.

It slowed him for a moment, but he just continued his examination of my body, lifting my right arm up.

I wanted to shout at him to stop treating me like I was seriously damaged, when I felt piercing pain in the arm that Edward was just holding up.

Hissing loudly, I pulled my arm away from him abruptly only to experience more pain.

"Okay, where does it hurt? Is it your arm? Did I just hurt you? Oh God, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna take you to the hospital right away. I—"

"Edward," I groaned, both in pain and annoyance, "just shut up and chill for a second."

Edward stared at me with wide eyes and snapped his mouth shut. Then he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm sorry. I went a little overboard," he apologized gently, although he didn't seem entirely relaxed.

The pain in my right arm had somewhat faded and I figured that it was probably nothing nothing too serious.

"Found them... again," I heard Rose exclaim and a second later the whole group was gathered around us.

Chris and Alice both pounced on me and hugged me fiercely, which would have been painful under normal condition but was now agonizing.

Both girls let go of me immediately when the groan escaped my mouth.

"You are hurt, aren't you?" The way Alice said it, it sounded more like she was stating a fact instead of asking me whether or not I was hurt.

"It's no big..." I tried to reassure her lamely, while I cradled my arm close to my chest.

Chris didn't even acknowledge that and instead sent a fierce glare in Edward's direction.

Edward stared back at her in the same manner.

For a moment I thought they were having some kind of staring match until I noticed the determination in both their eyes. My brows furrowed and I tried to get some insight into Chris' mind.

There were different scenarios running through her mind that all involved Edward and Chris beating faceless people until they begged for mercy.

Edward must have looked into her mind as well, but unlike me he didn't look shocked—he had a dark look of satisfaction on his face.

What was wrong with the two of them?

Both Chris and Edward suddenly moved in perfect synchronization, turning around to head back to where the noises of the crowd could be heard.

I opened my mouth in an attempt to stop them from doing something stupid, like committing murder, when Emmett took matters into his hands.

He reached his hand out and grabbed both Edward and Chris by their collars and set them down right beside me.

"No one is going to kill anyone... yet," Emmett said in an eerily calm voice.

"I'm going to kill you if you don't let go," Edward and Chris chorused.

Emmett simply quirked an eyebrow at that and crossed his arms in front of his broad chest, making him look like one of those buff secret service guys. "Go ahead and try, but I'm telling you I won't go easy on both of you just because you're girls."

It shouldn't have surprised me that not only Edward replied to that with a growl, but Chris as well.

Jasper then came to stand beside Emmett and spoke in his usual calming manner, "You two have to calm down. Bella is alive and well, so there is no need to freak out..."

"She is not well," Edward protested immediately. "Don't you see that she's in pain? I'm gonna rip out the arms of every single person that dared to lay hands on her."

He made an attempt to dash past Emmett and Jasper, but just when he started to move, he suddenly froze.

I was just watching the whole scene in front of me with wide eyes.

"Dylan," Edward all but roared.

"I'm sorry, bro," Dylan said unapologetic. "But you're not ripping anyone's arms out right now."

"No problem; breaking skulls is enough for me," Chris chirped in, and just like Edward, she attempted to walk passed the wall of boys in front of her. And just like Edward, she ended up freezing in her movements.

"Jasper, you might wanna do your part fast," Alice said now. "Dylan won't be able to hold them in place forever."

Dylan sent her a grateful smile.

"Alright, you two," Jasper said. "Maybe you should sit down and try to gather your thoughts."

"Sit," Dylan instructed and his two captives obliged immediately.

They both sat down next to me, sending death glares in Dylan's direction.

"Edward, you need to stay here with us anyway because of the tournament and if you go killing off half of the competition, you will probably be disqualified and then you can watch how Bella is going to dance with one of those filthy scum bags that harassed her a few minutes ago."

Edward's expression became, if possible, even more furious than before.

"Of course, if you stay calm for now and let out your rage during the Games in a legal and mostly harmless way, then you might have a fair chance of winning your girlfriend as your date."

Jasper looked meaningfully at Edward before he turned his attention to my sister.

"And you and the other girls will accompany Bella to the first aid tent. If you break anyone's bones on the way, you will have to share beds with Dylan tonight again."

I felt how Chris' anger was quickly replaced by shock.

"Alright, I think I'm done," Jasper declared, looking at Dylan.

Dylan narrowed his eyes slightly at the two overprotective idiots by my side, who were now unfrozen.

Chris got up swiftly and yanked on my uninjured arm.

"Let's go."

I barely had time to turn around and wave at Edward, who was not even paying attention to me because he was busily sending death glares at a boy who walked passed them and had dared to look at me.

Upon closer inspection, I recognized him as the guy who had professed his undying love to me not so long ago.

I gulped and hoped for his sake that his thoughts had been somewhat innocent, otherwise Edward might skin him alive.

Rose and Alice had managed to catch up with us and helped Chris to drag me to the Psychs display where the first aid tent was located.

A girl in a short nurse outfit was sitting in there and had been looking at holes in the air until we entered. She immediately got up from her chair and hurried toward us, guiding me to one of the three day beds. She instructed me to sit before she scurried off back to the desk she had just occupied.

I watched her, while the other three were talking quietly. About her.

"Do you think it is stupidity or impressive self-esteem that she is walking around in those shorts with thighs like hers?" Rose asked quietly. The phrasing sounded kind of mean, but she sounded like she was really curious.

"I think it looks good on her," Chris commented. I looked at my "nurse" again and decided that I agreed with her.

The girl wasn't slim like we all were, but she wasn't fat either. She was just really curvy.

The girl turned back to us, enabling me to read her name tag. Her name was Delphine. "Alright, let's get your arm patched up," she mumbled gently with her wand in her hand.

"How do you even know—"

"It's my gift," she replied with a smile.

I nodded in understanding.

"Err, Delphine?" Chris asked carefully.

"Hmm?" Delphine didn't look up at her, while she slowly ran her wand over my injured arm repeatedly.

"Could it be that we already met?"

Now the girl did look up at her with a bright smile on her pretty face. Meanwhile, I was wondering where we had seen her before.

I think I would have remembered her if we really had met her before. Impressive curves, chocolate-colored skin and long black braids. No, I'd never seen her before, and yet I suddenly thought she looked familiar.

"Not that I know of. Why are you asking?"

"You just look kind of familiar, that's all."

Delphine simply shrugged and resumed running her wand over my arm a few more times. "Okay, you're all good now. Luckily, it was only a slight sprain," Delphine then declared.

"Alright, let's go and get you dressed for your Royal Games," Alice cheered before she quickly thanked Delphine for patching me up. She just smiled in return and waved when I was dragged along once more.

I wasn't even sure how Alice had gotten me so fast back to my dressing room, but I couldn't ask her, either because Cynthia was immediately by my side.

"There you are. I heard that you had gotten hurt and I was so worried. I hope Delphine healed you alright. She is really good at that, but I think it's because her brother is probably tutoring her. There is no way that she gets any free time at home, considering that her brother is a teacher. Once, she healed my nose when I fell in Gym. Afterwards, I felt so much better. When I asked her about it she told me that she also loosened up the tension in my body. Her healing is better than a wellness weekend. However, it needs some time until you actually feel it..." Cynthia just continued blabbering and Alice soon joined in, both of them starting to do my hair and makeup. Cynthia usually didn't appreciate it if anyone else got in her way, but the happy chatter seemed to distract her, while I was just wishing for it to end.

Half an hour later I was dressed in one of my white dresses with a long white coat over it and my hair just as snowy white as always.

Chris shuddered when she looked at me.

"You look kinda cold," she told me.

I didn't reply to that.

"Let's get this party started!"

Natalia suddenly appeared beside me and grinned brightly at me.

"What party?" I asked gloomily.

"Don't be so grumpy, Bella. You have to see the positive side of it—I'm not sure what exactly the positive aspect is, but that doesn't matter right now. I'll make something positive out of it."

"It better be good, otherwise I'll let my sister loose in this ice town," I told her.

"Really?" Chris asked, sounding like a kid on Christmas day.

"No."

Chris' smile turned into a scowl.

"Uh, I was just wondering..." Rose said slowly. "Where exactly are these Games taking place?"

I shrugged in answer.

"Japree is supposed to pick us up," Natalia informed her.

As if on cue, Japree waltzed into the room. "Ladies, the Games cannot start without you."

"Well, in that case,I should have stayed somewhere far away," I grumbled.

Natalia poked my side and shook her head in mock disappointment, while Japree chuckled quietly and offered me his arm.

Natalia hooked hers through it and grinned at me. "You always have handsome boys by your side, so it's my turn now," she said.

"I wasn't going to deny you your chances of walking with a handsome boy."

"So you think I'm handsome, huh?" Japree asked the two of us with bright smile on his face.

"Shut up, Jap. You ruin your pretty image when you start talking," Natalia instructed.

"Guys, I love that you are getting along so well, but we kind of have to get going," Cynthia interrupted whatever comeback had been about to leave Japree's mouth.

I sighed loudly at that.

"Stop sighing like an old, unhappy woman," Alice scolded, wrinkling her little nose, "it's unattractive."

"Bella, would you please join us in front and leave the mundane people behind," Japree called to me.

"Mundane?" Alice repeated, scowling.

"I didn't mean it like that, but since she is the Queen, she kinda has to walk in front of the line, which would be next to me."

Alice was apparently not satisfied with that answer, but I didn't get to hear whatever she mumbled next because Rose simply pushed me forward.

I stumbled awkwardly and Japree barely managed to steady me with his free arm.

"Shall we go now, before you hurt yourself... again?"

I only rolled my eyes at him, which he took as a yes.

It shouldn't have surprised me that there were more people than normal around. I looked at the ground, while Japree led the way.

"The palace?" Natalia asked disbelievingly. "How unoriginal."

I looked up and saw that Japree was indeed leading us in the direction of the Palace.

"Not the palace, silly. We set up a stadium behind the palace."

"A stadium?" Natalia and I asked in unison.

Japree only nodded.

I was pretty sure that it was useless to ask how in the world they managed to create a stadium out of nothing.

Behind the palace was some kind of big monument, but I couldn't exactly see the shape or size of the stadium because Japree led us through a big set of doors.

"I'm just going to assume that you want your friends to sit with you in the VIP section," Japree said to me.

I nodded and stared at the high set of stairs in front of us.

"Have none of you ever heard of an elevator?" Chris complained somewhere in the back.

"Sure we have," Japree replied lightly, leading us up the stairs.

I heard Chris grumble something, but I didn't listen to that as I climbed the stairs.

About 83 steps later, we finally arrived at the top and went through the doors in front of us.

The large patio that we now stepped on reminded me of those gladiator movies, which could probably be because the stadium looked exactly like those.

Down in the middle stood Bryce, who made a sign in Japree's direction.

Japree nodded in answer and a second later Bryce's voice could be heard loud and clear to everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen—the Queen and Princess." He made a dramatic gesture in our direction, while Japree pushed me in the throne next to Natalia that stood in a safe distance from the rails.

Right in front of the rails was a bench, which was already occupied by Cynthia, Chris, Rose and Alice.

They all waved at the cheering crowd, while I only wished to disappear.

"Well, now that our two stunning ladies have arrived, we can start the Games!"

Sure enough, the ground he stood on was made up of ice and several fountains of water broke out when he lifted his arms in a dramatic manner.

"The first Royal Task is going to be the Balance test," Bryce declared, while the fountains proceeded to spit water. "The stadium will be filled halfway with water and our contestants over there—" he pointed to the seating rows right across from us, "—will have to balance on an ice floe for ten minutes. Anyone who falls into the water will not only get a cold, but will also be disqualified."

I saw how a few of the boys started to look nervously at each other, while Bryce continued his speech.

"In the first round, the use of gifts and magic of any kind is not allowed. If our judges notice any of you cheating, you will be disqualified." Bryce pointed in our direction, but I knew for sure that none of us were the judges so I just assumed that they must be sitting beneath us.

"Let the Royal Games begin!" With those words, Bryce hurriedly made his way out of the arena, the water already reaching his knees.

I noticed that beneath the rows where the audience sat was another patio that went once around the stadium and everyone that sat there suddenly got up. All of them were Hydros and they all turned their concentration to the arena beneath them, doing different hand movements or wielding wands.

I saw the ice ground break and the water rise. Soon enough, the water almost reached their patio and a little set of stairs were quickly formed to allow the participants to go down there.

The first floe made it's way up and came to halt right in front of the stairs. I was really impressed at how good the others had gotten with their gifts.

"Contestant number 100, please come down," a female voice spoke. I didn't see the person it belonged to, but I knew that she was also one of the Hydros.

One of the boys, dressed in nothing more that a bath robe, stepped down the stairs. Two of the Hydros standing next to those stairs helped him take off his robe and spoke quietly to him, before he went to take a seat on the floe.

"Contestant number 101..."

I already tuned the voice out, not really interested in each individuals number.

"Hey, Japree," Chris called over to Japree who still stood by my side.

"Yes?"

"Why are they starting with number 100?"

"Because that's the first one. We started with 100 and ended with 200. Don't even ask why. It was Bryce's idea," he explained and then handed me a pair of binoculars.

"Bella, move your butt over here and sit with us," Rose demanded and patted the empty space beside her.

"And you, too, Natalia," Alice added.

A few minutes later, Natalia, Japree, Cynthia, Rose, Alice, Chris, and I sat on the pillowed bench, munching on popcorn and chips as we watched the contestants continue to busily take their places on the floes.

"Contestant number 178..."

Alice and I cheered loudly, although Alice managed to make more noise since she had various fan articles that had been specifically designed to make noise. Especially the little 'hooter' that was constantly screaming Edward's name at the same deafening volume as Alice. She'd apparently thought it would be important to have something that could shout whatever she wished for it to shout, with her, only to motivate the boys. I doubted that it was motivating; it was just downright ear-splitting.

Much like the other 77 contestants before him, Edward wore nothing more than a pair of swim trunks.

Of course, I didn't drool. It's not like I was some crazy fangirl.

"Bella, wipe off that drool of yours," Rose instructed, throwing a tissue at me.

Edward's floe was already floating around in the pool of water when Jasper stepped down the stairs.

This time, Rose cheered, though thankfully at a much more tolerable volume. Even Chris joined in and I began to wonder why in the world the two of them had been completely silent when Edward had been called up.

I didn't ask them, though. I was helping them cheer for Jasper, and then Dylan. I noticed that we were not the only ones doing that. The whole crowd had become louder ever since Edward had undressed. Jasper definitely didn't help matters, and Dylan made everything worse by waving and blowing kisses to the crowd before he pointed at Chris and put a hand on his chest, motioning how she made his heart beat faster.

I saw how Chris shook her head slightly at him, but sent him a kiss back anyway, and waved.

I was sure that I wasn't the only one that stared at her, but I was definitely the only one who was not plotting to kill her.

Apparently my sister and Edward's brother weren't just a couple for the day. There was no way that it was like that, otherwise she would have flipped him the bird or something. Now I actually saw why Rose and Alice had found it so amusing and I glared at my sister for not telling me.

I would have to have a little chat with her later.

"I love you, Emmy-Bear!" Rose suddenly screamed from beside me. She sounded like a crazy fangirl that was about to faint and her squealing like Emmett was a freaking pop star only supported that.

Now that all of our boys were on the water, the cheering went down a little. Alice had decided that it was a good idea for us to rest our voices until the competition began.

Japree was shaking his head and mumbled something about "crazy teenage girls with high-pitched voices."

"Alright, everyone. It's time to start," I heard Bryce's voice and a giant stopwatch suddenly floated above our heads. "On the count of three, all of the contestants will have to stand on their floes. Is everyone ready for this?"

The answering roar from the crowd rang in my ears.

"One...two...three." The watch immediately started counting and two boys already fell into the water.

The ice cold water.

"Contestants number 127 and number 185 are disqualified," the female voice announced

"You can do it, Emmett! If you win this, I will rub those big feet of yours!" Rose shouted.

Chris stared at her with a disgusted look on her face, while I laughed at her expression.

"I believe in you, Jazzy! Make us proud, Edward! Your new girlfriend is watching, Dylan!" Alice shouted. She didn't even take a breath while she cheered for the three boys. "Emmett, you'll get a steak if you win! Edward, don't let those other losers take your girl!"

She continued randomly screaming things at each boy, while I just had to laugh at the things she said.

"Contestants number 103, 164, and 177 are disqualified."

I looked at the time and saw that just a little over a minute had passed.

"Contestant number 199 is disqualified."

"You are the champion, you are the champion. The rest are the losers and you are the champion... of the Gaaaaames!" Alice now sang.

Chris and Rose soon joined in, while Natalia and Cynthia were rolling with laughter.

I took off my coat and leaned over the railing together with the others and somewhat joined in in their ridiculous song as well.

"You are the champion, you are the champion—"

"Contestants number 112, 115, 137, 145, 162, 178, and 189 are disqualified."

"The rest are the losers—What?" I interrupted my singing and stared the seven boys that were currently swimming back to the stairs.

This couldn't be. I probably only imagined it. There was no way that—

"Edward, you bring shame to our family! How dare you?" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the bronze-haired boy that just wrapped himself in a towel to turn around and glare at her.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"What the hell, Edward?" I all but shrieked as I paced around the room.

The whole group was gathered in my second dressing room in the palace and watched as I was freaked out.

"Bella, I—"

"How could you lose?" I asked incredulously. "And in the first round!"

The rest of the boys had made it safely and dry through the first round and were now spending the break eating, while they sat and watched.

"I wa—"

"I mean, you are _Edward Cullen_, for God's sake! The whole world automatically assumes that you are at least going to make it to the final round, but no, you managed to get kicked out in the first round. _The first round!_"

"Could—"

"You ace every little unimportant test in school, but you fail when it comes to winning a date with me? Am I not good enough? I know I'm not, but you didn't have to get yourself kicked out in the first round for that. Yo could have just told me that you are sick and tired of of me instead of using the whole 'whoever-wins-should-be-your-new-boyfriend' thing. I understand. I really do."

"Isabella!" Edward shouted, making me cringe. He was quickly by my side, throwing my over his shoulder and carrying me out of the room and into the throne room. He sat me down and looked at me with furious eyes.

"Are you mad at me?" I inquired quietly.

"No," he answered and then sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm mad at myself for losing and making you think that you are not worth the effort of trying."

I blinked and then watched him as he started to pace around.

"I tried, Bella, I really did. It's just that... ugh. I'm still so angry about the incident earlier."

"Shouldn't that have motivated you to win?"

"Oh, it did motivate me alright," he replied grimly. "I just wasn't in control of my gift and I was hearing everybody's thoughts. Nothing I can't handle since I've been living like that for years, but..." He stopped and let out a frustrated groan. He punched the wall in front of him and I saw a small crack build in the ice.

He was by my side in the blink of an eye, kneeling down before me, gripping my arms. "I'm so sorry, love. I don't intend to break up with you and I certainly didn't want to make you feel like you aren't good enough. You are perfect, Bella; don't let anyone tell you anything different. Just because I'm an idiot doesn't mean that you are worthless, okay?" His green eyes looked like they were trying to will me to believe him.

I nodded my head.

Edward loosened his grasp and let his head fall into my lap.

I was at a loss of what to do, so I gently stroked his head, running my fingers through his soft hair.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he mumbled again.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I messed up and now you will have to go to the party with some slimy, stinking—"

"Dylan, Jasper, and Emmett are still in the Games."

Edward looked up and stared at me. "You're right. And they're not going to be distracted by—" he stopped short, his eyes darkening, before he quickly averted his gaze.

"Distracted by what?" I pressed gently.

Edward didn't answer.

Instead, he got up again and went to punch the next wall.

"Edward, could you please stop trying to punch holes into my palace?"

"Sorry."

"Are you going to tell me what distracted you?"

"It wasn't just me. The other ones who got disqualified at the same time as me were also distracted by—" Again, he just stopped talking.

"Can you just tell me what distracted seven boys so much that they fell into the water? Was it something I did?" I demanded, getting a little impatient.

Edward didn't look at me; instead, he seemed to find the wall very interesting. Probably because his blood was slowly running down it.

I sighed. I had to end this conversation before he punched the wall again.

"Alright, it was something I did. What did I do? Was it my singing? I think Alice sings a hundred times worse than me. Chris isn't a brilliant singer either and Rose was not even in tune."

"It was not you singing," Edward replied quietly.

"Okay, then what was it?"

"It's not your fault, it's just that—"

"Yes?"

"I don't even know what was wrong with me. I'm not normally like this, but I think it's getting worse these days..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Of course it's only natural, seeing that you are gorgeous, attractive, and just overall stunning, but still, this is not really the way I usually act."

"Edward?" I urged.

"It was the coat, okay," he blurted out. "I don't even know what's wrong with me. All you did was take your coat off, and then you leaned over the railing and you dress is slightly low cut and I just... ugh, I'm such a freak, it's not even normal. I think I'm turning into Dylan. Wait, that didn't come out right, since Dylan ogles every female with boobs and I've only got eyes for you, which doesn't mean that I ogle you all the time or your boobs, although they are quite nice, but still, I'm not—"

"You fell because..." I could even finish the question and instead blushed the deepest crimson ever.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I don't even know what's wrong with me. First the morning wood the other day and now this. I swear I'm not a perv; something just must be wrong with me. Maybe I'm sick or something..."

"You are not sick, my dear brother," Dylan's voice suddenly spoke. He waltzed into the room, followed by the rest of the group, and walked to Edward's side, throwing a hand on his shoulder. "That is how a normal teenage boy should behave. Edward, what you are experiencing is called puberty."

Emmett let out a roar of laughter, while I blushed even more and let my hair hide most of my face.

"You are a pretty late bloomer, dear Eddie, but now that you finally are a man as well, let me tell you that you are currently experiencing what it's like to live life with hormones—teenage hormones. This gets especially worse when you have a beautiful girl, such as Bella, constantly by your side. The fact that the two of you are sharing your bed is probably not helping, either."

Emmett's laughter only got louder, and now he was joined by Jasper and Rose.

_Oh, dear God, just kill me now!_

Alice appeared at my side and sat down on the arm rest of my ice throne. She patted my back in an attempt to be comforting, but her quiet giggles weren't helping at all.

I buried my face in my hands. "How long have you all been listening?"

"Ever since we heard a weird warrior cry come from in here," Emmett answered, somehow managing to laugh at the same time.

"Ugh, Dylan," Edward suddenly shouted.

I peeked through my fingers at the two brothers and saw Edward shake Dylan's hand off his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm just being helpful," retorted Dylan.

"No, you're being disgusting. How about instead of whispering that nonsense into my ear, you go whisper it to Chris? She might like it." The flush on his face and the way his teeth were grit together led me to believe that Edward was more than pissed.

"Leave me out of this," Chris chirped, wandering around the room, bored. "This is your Sex Ed course, Edward. I already hit puberty."

"You are two freaking years younger than me," Edward hissed.

Chris glanced up at him and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Yes, but I'm also a girl."

Emmett apparently thought that this course of conversation was boring because he made his way toward me and said, "I think it's really unfair that only Edward got to see it. I wanna see that nice pair of boobies, too!"

I don't think I've ever gotten out of a chair faster, and I don't think Rose had ever been so quick to smack Emmett across the head.

"Ow, Rosie," he complained in a whine.

"No more boob talk. You want boobies? You'd better behave and help save Bella, otherwise I will wear turtlenecks for the rest of your life," she threatened.

While Emmett's lips dropped into a pout, the rest of us were silent.

"Wow," Jasper murmured after a few quiet moments, "what an unnecessary insight into my sister's relationship."

Emmett stopped pouting and decided to tease Jasper instead. "You're just jealous 'cause you haven't seen Alice's goodies yet."

"Emmett!" five people exclaimed together. Alice, Edward, Dylan, Rose, and of course Jasper. The way they all glared dangerously at the giant idiot was almost comical. The boy really knew how to piss off a room full of people.

"You know, guys...not only are we a group that only consists of couples—which is already weird enough—but there also doesn't seem to be a single day that goes by without any perverted jokes or comments, sex talks, or anything else along those lines. What is wrong with you people?" Chris said, more or less voicing my exact thoughts.

"First of all, don't be such a prude," Dylan answered her. "Second, I believe there have been days without any 'perverted jokes or comments'. Third, I think I know why it bothers you, and I can certainly help you with that little problem—" he waggled his eyebrows, "—and last but not least, did you just say that we are a couple?"

"Oh yeah, about that..." I chimed in before Chris could say anything. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris looked at me first, and then at Dylan. It seemed like she was trying to decide which one of us she would answer first.

Eventually she turned to me. "Well, did you tell me when Edward asked you to be his girlfriend?" she snapped.

"Well, no... But that was because we weren't talking to each other at the time, thank you very much."

"So? I also never got a play-by-play of your date. All I ever got were your makeout sessions."

"Well, you never once talked to me about your whole Dylan issue. You only complained to me every now and then, but you didn't really tell me anything—like last Sunday. And then you don't tell me that he's your boyfriend now."

"I couldn't tell you that because it just kinda happened. Besides, Edward told you before I could."

"Hello? We have a mental connection. You could have let me know instantly."

"Does that mean that you really think of me as your boyfriend?" Dylan barged in excitedly.

"Shut up!" Chris and I snapped at him in unison.

Then Chris turned to me again to continue where we'd left off.

"You know, I'm trying to stay out of your mind most of the time because I don't wanna see, feel, or taste Edward anymore. Do you know that it's your fault that I more or less madeout with Dylan on his bed?"

I gaped at her for a short moment before I pointed my finger at her and jumped like a little child. "See? See? That's exactly what I mean. Why didn't you tell me any of that either? I swear, you two could have had sex by now without me knowing anything about it."

"When was I supposed to tell you that? When you were rolling around with your new boytoy, or when we were surrounded by the rest of them? It's not exactly what I call privacy."

"Mental connection," I hissed at her. "We have a freaking mind connection!"

"Oh great. So should I be telling you this stuff during class, so that you can be pissed off at me later for interrupting your concentration? Or should I have told you while we were doing homework? Oh, oh! I also could have intruded your mind while you were busily practicing with the Hydros, or maybe I should have just ripped you out of your sleep." The sarcasm in her voice was practically visible.

"I don't know why, but this is strangely fascinating," I heard Rose whisper.

I sighed. "We need to talk," I said to Chris, more gently now.

She let her shoulders slump and nodded in agreement. "I know."

"Later?"

"Sure, just without the audience."

"What? No way!" Emmett and Rose protested at the same time, causing Chris to glare at them while I shook my head.

"I already have an idea how to get rid of them," she mumbled.

"I hope it's nothing brutal," I commented.

"Not really."

"Yeah, well, that's all great, but shouldn't we get back to those Games that are kind of important because they decide Bella's future?" Alice chimed in.

Everyone murmured something that sounded like agreements, and we slowly shuffled out of the room.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"And now let's get started with the second Royal Task!"

"Is it okay if I hate him right now?" Edward asked me in a whisper as he glared down at Bryce. He was now sitting with the rest of us on the bench, leaning against me. He was still pretty down about the fact that he hadn't won—I knew that, and I played with his hair in hopes of soothing him. He did have his eyes closed and looked like he was relaxing in my arms, but there was still a frown on his face.

"If you want to hate him for coming up with this idea, then sure," I told him truthfully.

"The two of you are real downers, huh?" Natalia commented, raising her eyebrows at me.

Both Edward and I glared at her.

"Just sayin'," she mumbled.

"Okay, let's get down to business with our Royal Task numero dos!" Bryce's voice sounded as cheerful as always, which only made the desire to strangle him grow. "Our remaining 64 contestants will have to prove their strength by showing us some climbing skills."

Suddenly the ground started shaking. I let out a little yelp of surprise and instinctively held onto Edward, who'd sat up and looked around in search of the source of the shaking.

Meanwhile, I peeked over the railing and noticed that it wasn't the ground shaking, but the stadium itself seemed to be moving. Looking at the opposite side of the rows, I instantly knew why. The circle in which the seating rows were arranged was slowly starting to part.

"A little warning would have been nice," Rose grumbled, sounding surprised, startled, and pissed at the same time.

Slowly, the gap forming revealed a giant ice mountain, which was big enough to let the Titanic sink twice.

"The rules for round two are as follows: The contestants will have thirty minutes to climb to the top of the mountain. Everyone who does not make it to the top in those thirty minutes, or falls off within that time, will be disqualified. In this round, the usage of magic is allowed, but only under the condition that each contestant is indeed climbing up."

While Bryce was talking, the seating rows arranged themselves in a straight line, enabling everyone to watch what would be going on on the ice mountain. Alice had already snatched the binoculars that Japree had given to me earlier, and was vibrating with excitement.

"Ready, set, go!"

And just like that, the next round of madness started.

A few months ago, I had been perfectly content with my life. I did well in school, had decent friends, and more than enough things to do in my free time. Most of the time I would help out my mother with her new projects, and try to teach her how to cook. Sometimes I let my sister drag me along to the beach or the mall and actually enjoyed myself every now and then.

I did my homework, I had dinner with my family, and I talked on the phone for a longer amount of time sometimes.

Now that I look back, I actually find my previous life pretty boring, even though it hadn't bothered me at the time.

I never dreamed of having so many good friends that I was not willing to ever let go. I never imagined that I would have a boyfriend, who was not only two years older than me, but also one of the most sought after guys in school. But the thing that I definitely never, ever even dared to think of is that I would actually enjoy life in the rainiest town in the whole country.

But here I was, and exactly those things had taken place. Normally this would be the moment in which I would look at my friends and smile at Alice, who was jumping up and down in her seat, cheering, and at Rose and Chris, who were supporting her.

I would place a kiss on Edward's cheek and then hug him, and I would pull a grimace at my sister, who might have made some stupid comment.

But none of that happened. Instead, I was sitting cross-armed the entire time, scowling.

Out of all the crazy things I've had to endure ever since I arrived, this was the one thing that I hated the most.

Watching a bunch of guys in some stupid competition just because my idiotic mentors thought it would be funny to make me the prize. If there had ever been a moment in my life in which I wanted to switch places with just about anyone, this was probably it.

I watched how the boys climbed the ice mountain, and worried for a moment that someone could get hurt. That was until Japree told me that they were wearing protection clothes, and that nothing could happen to them.

After that, I didn't bother to worry about anyone anymore.

I didn't care that some guy almost shot Jasper off the mountain with some weird blasting spell. I also didn't care that Dylan beamed himself halfway up the mountain, climbed half of the remaining distance, and then beamed himself up again, only so he could climb the last remaining bit to the top. It was apparently not against the rules because the rules only said that they had to climb to the top, which he did.

I might have cared a little when Jasper did indeed fall down, but after he got up unharmed, I resumed fuming.

At the end of those thirty minutes, Dylan and Emmett had made it up along with 15 other guys.

The others cheered for our two remaining boys in the contest, and welcomed Jasper into our midst.

My mood got a lot worse when Bryce announced the third and final round right after the stadium had returned to its original shape and a running track appeared in the middle. The last challenge was a race on skates, and the fact that Emmett couldn't ice skate even if his life depended on it did absolutely nothing to improve my mood.

My friends sensed that it was not a good idea to try and cheer me up, although it might have had something to do with me growling at Edward for trying to comfort me.

Thinking about it later on, it had probably been a good idea that I didn't get my hopes up and had been in a bad mood from the beginning.

"Hold still, Bella. I'm trying to make you look pretty," Alice complained for the millionth time.

"But I don't want to look pretty," I whined in return, probably also for the millionth time.

Rose, who sat on the bed with Chris, groaned. "Alice, just leave her be. There is no need to try any hairstyles on her. You can experiment on me."

As soon as the suggestion left her mouth, I jumped out of the chair and dragged Chris out of the room and into the living room with me.

"Is Alice done torturing you?" Jasper asked casually, glancing up from his book.

"Not really. I just managed to escape," I replied gloomily, and Chris patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"Perfect. Stay just like you are," Dylan suddenly instructed.

Both of us looked at him and saw him sitting in the armchair with his sketchbook, in which he was scribbling furiously.

When he looked at us again, his shoulders slumped. "You shouldn't have moved," he complained.

"You don't expect us to apologize for breathing, do you?" Chris asked him with raised eyebrows.

Dylan didn't reply, and instead resumed sketching, although it was a lot slower now.

"Are you drawing us?" Chris asked him curiously.

"No, I'm trying to catch the true essence of the forceful nature," he answered thoughtfully.

Chris gave him a confused look.

He sighed. "I'm trying to draw you," he explained.

"Oh," was Chris' reply.

"Why?" I asked, trying to combine his earlier answer and the explanation.

"Just because. I'm always sketching and most of the time it's the people around me."

"Does that mean you have a picture or something of me as well?"

"Err... Yes." The expression on his face was weird. He looked like he was embarrassed or something.

Chris noticed this as well and narrowed her eyes at him. "What have you done?" she demanded, pointing her index finger at him.

"Nothing."

"Then what's up with the blush?"

"I'm not blushing."

"That's what you think."

I sighed while the two of them continued their bickering. Two arms snaked themselves around my waist, pulling me close.

Edward rested his chin on my shoulder and whispered, "It's a really beautiful painting that he made, and you'll see it soon. He's just too embarrassed to talk about it in front of people. He never talks about his paintings."

"Why not?"

"He thinks it makes him look less cool to talk about it because his paintings have a lot to do with his feelings—sort of like a reflection of them—and of course it's not cool to have feelings." Edward chuckled quietly when he saw the glare his brother sent him in the middle of his bickering with my sister.

"Don't act like you're any better, Eddiekins," Emmett said as he walked into the room. "You won't play piano for us, either."

"That's because none of you have any sense for classical music."

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett waved him off and threw himself on the couch.

"Psh. I refuse to believe that this is supposed to be me. Maybe Bella, but not me," Chris argued and I turned to look at her. She was perched on the armrest of next to Dylan, peeking into his sketchbook. Meanwhile, Dylan looked slightly frustrated.

"That's not Bella. I think I can tell the difference."

"Obviously not. See those eyes? They are totally not mine. Well, also not Bella's, but still, my eyes don't look that…that…" she was struggling to find a word.

Dylan pulled her down from the armrest and onto his lap. "That beautiful? Actually, they do, since I draw people how I see them, and you are exactly as beautiful as look in this drawing."

The sudden wave of mixed emotions that came from Chris almost knocked me over. I freed myself from Edward's embrace.

"Wasn't there a conversation that we still have to finish?" I asked my sister.

Chris looked up at me and then awkwardly got off of Dylan's lap, and caught my hand. "Let's go and take a bath," she suggested.

Whatever Emmett had been drinking was now spluttered all across the floor.

I decided that it would be a good idea to get going before he recovered from his coughing fit.

We went to the master bedroom and straight into the bathroom before we both came to a stop in front of the bathtub.

"You weren't really planning on us taking a bath together, were you?" I asked Chris, remembering that the last time Mom had put us in a tub together was when we were five.

"Um, no, not really. I just figured that the only place where we wouldn't have to worry about privacy was the bathroom," she answered.

"Well, we can always pretend to take a bath together," I said and seated myself in the tub.

Chris eyed me with a funny expression for a few moments before she shrugged and climbed in as well, sitting down on the opposite side of the tub.

I guessed that Mr. Decour didn't have the tub with intentions to share it with someone. Either that or he liked the fact that there was little space to move once there were two people in the tub. I decided to banish these sort of thoughts, and instead focused on Chris, who was still trying to figure out where she should put her legs.

"So..." I started once she sat still.

"So," she replied, looking down at her hands.

We were both quiet for a while.

"I guess assigned sister talk doesn't work for us," I noted then.

"Seems like it."

Again, silence followed.

"Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for screaming at you earlier."

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too."

"Do you really think that we have drifted apart?"

Chris leaned her head against the porcelain of the tub. "I'm not sure. We do spend more than enough time together, but I don't think I've ever had to share you with so many people at once."

"We've also never had separate rooms."

"I think I'm quite thankful for that, actually," she grimaced.

"Why?" I asked in confusion.

"I wouldn't survive if I had to see Edward all the time."

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean. I'm just being honest."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. "Well, I guess I don't have to like Dylan then, right?"

Chris shook her head. "No, you don't. I don't even like him."

"Right. That's why you're his girlfriend now."

Chris grimaced again. "It wasn't by choice, okay? He just dumped that piece of information on me and left me no choice."

"Um, you do realize that you could have just said that you don't want to, if that were really the case," I told her, shaking my head slightly.

"No, I couldn't have. Just like I could never intentionally hurt you, I can't refuse him this one little thing. It might have been possible some time ago, but not anymore."

I started to hum the tune of _Can You Feel the Love Tonight_, causing Chris to kick me lightly and me to giggle madly when she did.

"Oh, you have to admit it. You are in love. And you have been in love for quite some time already. Rose even told you that months ago."

"I am not in love. I'm a hormone-driven teenager."

"Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that."

Chris decided to tickle me with her foot while I proceeded to sing Elton John's song.

It went on like that for several more moments until Chris accidentally turned the water on. Both of us climbed out of the tub then, and got ready to sleep. Instead of cuddling up with Edward, I was falling asleep with Chris by my side, and I grinned when I heard her mutter Dylan's name in her sleep.

The next morning was a lot more relaxed than the previous ones. The fair was now more or less over, and all that was left to do was close our displays and help our groups clean up. After that, there was only the party left, and I wasn't looking forward to that. How Eric—what's his surname again?—had managed to win was still a mystery to me, and I was not looking forward to the result of that, either. I had recognized him as the guy who professed his undying love for me in the palace, and kissed my feet. Edward was, of course, not pleased about it and was already planning to steal me away from my "date." So much for "whoever wins will be more worth your time than me."

The day dragged on painfully slow and I'd already started to miss Edward when the day was only halfway through. Making water masses disappear was definitely tiring, especially since I had absorbed almost half of the pool before I felt like I was going to explode. During the whole cleaning session, I never once spoke to Bryce or Japree. I didn't even look at them.

When we were finally done with all that had been left to do, Alice appeared to pick me up for a quick shopping trip together with the other two girls. Like always, it was true torture to go shopping with Alice. But I didn't complain, mostly because I preferred the shopping trip opposed to dancing with Eric—something closely related to Yuckie.

After the shopping spree, we all hurried back to Mr. Decour's house to get ready for the evening. Or rather, the others did and I did my best to be as slow as possible. The boys were all gone somewhere because Alice had apparently warned them to stay away. By the time the evening slowly came around, the front door burst open and Emmett and Jasper stumbled in.

"We searched the whole campus," Emmett said breathlessly.

"Not a trace," Jasper added.

All of us girls made our way to them and gave them confused looks, having no idea what they were talking about.

"What are you two talking about?" Alice asked.

"Where are Dylan and Edward?" Chris inquired at the same time.

"Gone," answered Emmett and Jasper simultaneously.

"What do you mean by gone?" Chris and I asked in unison.

Jasper and Emmett looked at each other briefly. "It means we can't find them."

Without waiting for anyone to say anything at all, I flew out the door. I felt Chris right behind me as I went. I sprinted as fast as I could to the Black House, since this was the first place I could think of to look for them. I didn't halt until we reached Edward's bedroom door.

I knocked and waited impatiently for someone to answer. Chris, however, was not in the mood for waiting and simply opened the door. I had feared that the room would be empty, but actually seeing it empty was still a shock. I looked around the room in hopes of finding something, until my eyes zeroed in on a piece of paper lying on Edward's bed. Chris noticed it as well and the two of us quickly dove for it.

_You may have noticed that your beloved Edward is not here. In case you are wondering, he and his cute brother Dylan are with us, and if you ever want to see them again… Well, you know where to find us._

_To prevent any kind of unnecessary trouble, I'm suggesting that only Isabella and Christabel come and see us, otherwise the two boyfriends will die._

_xoxo  
Irina_

* * *

_**A/N:**_** F****ish (that's me) says you will all die horrible deaths in the impending 2012 Apocalypse/end of the world if you do not review this amazing chapter.**

**Seriously…**

**I'm not kidding…**

**HIT THE DAMN BUTTON!**

**Thanks ._.**


	22. Between Time and Space

_**A/N:**_** I'm baaaack! I hope I didn't let you wait for too long ;) I'm working on my updating skills, I promise...**

**Alright, this chapter is gonna be confusing/mind blowing/ sad/ entertaining/ definitely confusing.**

**My beta says it's her favorite chapter so far, so I'm just gonna trust her judgement.**

**Cheers to lish the fish by the way for updating the story the last time ;) She did a good job (although she was too lazy to look through the whole chapter and take out the remaining mistakes) and we all love her for that, no?**

**Okay, I'll shut my mouth... you go on and read!**

* * *

"Bella? Bellaaaa?"

Alice's voice sounded like she was a million miles away. I didn't even notice that the rest of the group had entered Edward's room as well.

Hell, I didn't even know that they had followed us.

I only vaguely noticed how someone snatched the note out of my hands. I didn't mind, though. I already had it memorized. It was stamped into my memory for eternity.

I slowly sat down on Edward's bed and stared blankly ahead. Edward's scent was all around me, which made this whole situation even more surreal.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Emmett, Rose, Alice and Jasper reading the note. Alice paled visibly and Jasper had to catch her before she hit the floor.

He gently sat her down beside me. "You're not going anywhere," he then instructed, looking first at me and then at Chris.

I didn't argue.

"Of course we are," Chris protested. There was no reason for me to argue, since I knew that Chris already had that covered and I was not in the shape to put up a fight.

"No, you are not. It's a trap and you would be walking straight into it."

"Well, can you think of anything else we can do?"

"Yes," Rose interfered and slowly made her way to the door. "I'm gonna go now and look for Carlisle. We should have talked to right in the beginning."

"But Rose," Emmett pleaded, "Don't you remember Alice's vision?"

"I do, but that is hardly going to help us right now. We can't just sit around and do nothing," Rose snapped at him.

"Rose, wait," Alice now spoke up. Her voice was strained and she sounded distant.

I turned my gaze to her and saw that she had those blank eyes again.

"Fire…water… I can't make anything out really. The whole future is a blurry mess," Alice muttered quietly. She mumbled a few more things before she drew in a sharp breath.

"What is it, Alice?" Jasper asked her, concern clear in his voice.

"Death…destruction…sadness," Alice stated flatly. "I'm seeing too far ahead and I'm not even sure if it has anything to do with us because I've never met any of those people…"

"Alice, maybe you should stop searching. It's only wearing you out," Jasper suggested.

Alice shook her head fiercely. "It's your destiny to make the prophecy come true. It has been written to show you your life's path and to guide you. You have been born into this world with a purpose, which you are not able to deny. The worlds have been living in denial for far too long and it's your task to end this," Alice said quickly.

I didn't know what she was talking about, but I was not the only one in the room who was confused by that.

Alice's eyes took on their regular color again.

"Whatever," Rose commented after she stared at Alice for a few seconds. "I'm going." She waltzed out of the room, not looking back once.

"Emmett, let's go," Alice instructed and got up to follow Rose.

"What about us?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"You'll stay and listen to Jasper. It's important for you to do the right thing at the right time," she replied gently, her eyes glazing over, but not going in their blank mode for once.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you shouldn't do anything that I wouldn't do while we are gone," Alice replied lightly and then followed Emmett who was already standing in the door frame.

"But Al—" Jasper started to protest.

"Relax, Jazz. We'll be back in a couple of minutes," she told him with a wink.

And just like that, it was just the three of us in the room.

Jasper sighed and pointed his wand at the door. The door lock clicked once, announcing that we were not able to leave the room anymore.

I didn't move from my position on the bed, while Chris started pacing around in the room.

Until now I hadn't paid any attention to the bond, but now that I didn't have much to concentrate on except mine and Chris' emotions, I felt how the bond buzzed with so many different feelings.

Even though we acted differently, Chris and I were absolutely in sync with our emotions.

Worry, fear, anger, helplessness, desperation, self-blame, regret and misery all bubbled within us.

With each moment that passed, another emotion made its way through.

Neither of us said anything, for which I was partly thankful, although I also wished for this silence to end.

Thoughts started to fill my mind, but they weren't my own.

Chris wasn't intentionally forcing herself into my mind, I noticed as soon as I started to focus my attention on those thoughts.

She was beating herself up for not being cautious enough, for not keeping her guard up and for not taking the situation seriously enough. She went through the past weeks and months and went through every clue which should have told her that something was wrong.

I didn't comment on her thoughts, I just let them pass through my mind.

She recalled various situations in which she had felt watched and couldn't get over the fact that she hadn't figured Irina's ability out sooner.

It went on like this for what felt like hours.

I only followed Chris' train of thought, agreeing with her every now and then. At some point I felt like we had one mind together, sharing thoughts and emotions.

Then suddenly, Jasper groaned in pain and buried his head in his hands.

He hadn't moved from his spot on the couch, so I didn't know what had caused him pain all of the sudden.

"Jasper, are you alright?" I asked him carefully and started to get up.

Jasper got up abruptly and moved in the opposite direction, as if trying to get away from me.

I continued to approach him, while Jasper backed up against the wall and let himself sink down to the floor.

I had been about to kneel down next to him when a writing appeared on the wall next to him.

_Let him be, just leave. It's the right time now._

It didn't take me long to figure out that the message was from Alice, and apparently Chris had read and figured it out as well because she suddenly kicked against the door in an attempt to open it. The door didn't budge, but Chris continued her assault, muttering various curses while doing so.

I turned back to Jasper whose pain seemed to have increased.

"Jasper, isn't there anything we can do to help you?" I asked him helplessly, not knowing what was wrong with him.

Jasper shook his head and dug his hands into his hair, pulling on his blond locks. The sob that escaped his mouth almost made my heart break, but I still didn't know what was wrong with him.

The sound of an explosion made me turn back around to Chris.

Her hands were both blazing and the door was now nothing more than a pile of ashes.

"Jasp—" I tried again, but he interrupted me.

"Just leave!" he cried. "Get out and leave me alone."

What was wrong with him? Had we done something to him? And why did Alice not care?

"Bella, let's go," Chris said quietly and pulled me along. "He'll be alright. Alice knew that this would happen."

"What makes you think that?"

"'Don't do anything I wouldn't do'," Chris recited, while walking briskly through the corridors.

I quickly fell into step with her and together we made our way through the Black House until we were out. The sky was already starting to darken, but I couldn't have cared less about that. Various students passed us and some of them even greeted us. It looked like everyone was heading to the party now.

"Isabella," a voice called loudly and I turned around briefly.

I wanted to groan in annoyance when I saw the person running toward us, but I couldn't bring myself to it in that moment.

"Isabella," the person said breathlessly when he had finally fallen in step with us, though he had to struggle to keep up with us.

I didn't look at him. Instead I looked straight ahead, not once wanting to lose sight of our destination.

The building could already be seen and my pace increased.

Chris didn't say anything – she only matched her stride to mine. We were almost jogging by now.

"Um… Isabella, aren't you supposed to go to the party with me?" Eric asked in an uncertain voice.

"Yes," I replied curtly.

"Oh, okay… Because I thought—it kind of seems like you're…"

"I'm not going to the party," I cut him off. I had been less than thrilled all day to be going to the party with him but now it was the last thing on my mind.

"Why not?" Hurt was evident in his voice, but I didn't care.

I looked briefly at him, my stare not conveying any kind of emotion. "Something came up," I told him flatly.

And with that being said, I actually did start to jog, knowing that Chris would follow.

It took us about five minutes to finally reach the building. The area was completely deserted, which caused a chill to run up my spine.

I felt completely exposed and unsure, which was not the best condition to be in if you're intending to save someone.

"Don't worry, Bells, I don't feel any better," Chris whispered as she stared up at the top floor.

I smiled weakly at her. "I guess, we should go in then," I whispered, although I had no real reason to do so.

Chris nodded in agreement and attempted to push the doors open.

Then she halted in her movements and looked at me.

"What?" I asked her in confusion.

"Might as well get it over with fast," she said and pulled me to her side.

Before I knew what was going on, she had slung her arms around me and we were pulled away from our current position.

A second later I felt ground beneath my feet again. I opened my eyes, which I had closed in the process of beaming, and looked around.

We were in a big room that seemed to be an office. In the middle stood a conference table and on the chairs around it sat a few familiar people.

Demetri Sleigh, Victoria Nomad and Irina.

There seemed to have been an argument going on until we surprisingly appeared in the room.

The three of them looked up slowly, all of them a little startled at our sudden appearance.

My eyes swept the room quickly in search of Edward and Dylan, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"You were saying, Nightmare?" Irina asked the woman next to her in with a triumphant smile on her face.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Shut up," Victoria hissed back at her.

Irina continued to smile and then turned toward us. "It's really nice of you to join us," she stated in a pleasant voice.

"What do you want?" I asked her immediately, not trying to mask the irritation in my voice.

Irina's eyes widened. "Me? Nothing. What makes you think that?" she asked innocently.

I felt how Chris' temper flared up and I was actually thankful for that. It helped me keep myself in control.

"Listen, freak," Chris started threateningly and moved closer to the table, although she held a safe distance from the three people. "Either you tell us where Edward and Dylan are, or I'll set you on fire."

Irina's expression changed into slight horror, which would have been amusing in any other situation.

Chris had been about to lift her hand, but suddenly her hands were crossed on her back like someone was holding them down.

I backed away from Chris, not seeing anyone, while she struggled to free herself.

"Houdini, have I taught you nothing? We don't treat our guests like that. Especially not if they are as precious as these two are," a pleasant voice suddenly spoke up.

I whirled around to face the entrance of the room and immediately froze.

I felt like I had been dropped into icy water with no hope of ever getting out.

My entire mind shut down for a moment when I looked at the person standing in the door way.

Mr. Aro Volturi.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that.

Beside me, Chris was still struggling against a now visible person.

"You," I stated breathlessly, staring at the principal.

Maybe the fact that Edward found out that our principal didn't possess any gift of his own should have made us more cautious. Maybe we should have known that something wasn't right about the person who intended to lure us to his school with the help of a mind possessing spell.

But then again, who suspects the one person that everybody trusts to be a... I didn't even have a word to describe him.

What was he? A murderer? A pedophile? Or just a good old psychopath?

I didn't know, mainly because I didn't know what he wanted from Chris and me.

What was it about us that made him aware of our existence—that made him have us enrolled at this school?

Millions of questions ran through my head and I felt how Chris tried to keep up with my thoughts. I felt the jolt of surprise and shock when she registered that Mr. Volturi was behind all of this.

"Now Isabella and Christabel, why don't you take a seat first?" Mr. Volturi said in pleasant voice.

I continued to stare at him, not moving an inch. In the corner of my eye I saw the man who was holding Chris' arms down vanish again, freeing her hands.

She whirled around right away, needing to see Mr. Volturi with her own eyes.

Once more I felt the shock going through her and the questions that had been rushing through my brain just moments before now filled hers.

Mr. Volturi sighed when neither of us moved to sit down. He made a quick gesture with his hand and suddenly I felt a chair knocking against the back of my legs, effectively letting me slump down on it before it moved toward the table and locked me there.

Chris was caged between the table and the chair as well which seemed to put Irina at ease.

The dirty blonde man who had been doing the vanishing appeared next to Victoria and maneuvered her onto his lap before he started showering her neck with kisses.

I vaguely remembered Edward's voice telling me that his name was James.

The thought of him made the dull pain in my chest grow, which I had been suppressing for the longest amount of time. I wanted to shout and ask where the hell Edward was, but the presence of Mr. Volturi was strangely intimidating.

He strolled gracefully around the table before he sat down on the opposite side of Chris and I.

The happy couple to his left stopped their little love games and rested their eyes on us just like everybody else did.

"Blossom, why don't you go and check on our potion?" Mr. Volturi asked gently, although it sounded more like an order.

Irina got up and waltzed across the room to a corner in which a giant kettle sat. I had seen it before, but unlike last time when I had seen it through Chris' mind, the potion inside the kettle seemed to glow.

The corner in which the kettle stood was illuminated with a strange green glow that had a slight bluish tint to it.

"It should be ready in few minutes," Irina announced proudly.

"Good," Mr. Volturi breathed, "Houdini, Shadow, would you please bring our other two guests in?"

James sighed at having to get up again but he followed the orders anyway. Both he and the janitor seemed to vanish before our eyes and I briefly wondered if it had anything to do with the strange nicknames they had.

_Probably, otherwise I can't explain how Irina could have possibly gotten the nickname 'Blossom',_ Chris commented on my thoughts. It seemed like she had been hovering around in my mind for a little while now. Not that I could blame her, seeing how close our minds have been ever since we entered Edward's bedroom.

"Master, I think it's done," Irina called from the corner where she was still standing and peered into the kettle.

Mr. Volturi stopped watching Chris and I like we were the most fascinating thing in the world and turned his attention to her. The green glow was now entirely blue.

"Excellent. You and Nightmare should get everything ready—we're not going to waste much time."

While Victoria got up and helped Irina with whatever it was she was now doing, Mr. Volturi turned back to us.

"It's been so long since the last time I have seen the two of you," he said, sounding almost reverent.

I wasn't sure, but I could have sworn that I even saw tears welling up in his eyes.

"It's amazing how you always seem to be the most beautiful beings in any room."

I turned my head to Chris and looked at her in question.

She didn't look at me, though. Instead she was staring at Mr. Volturi who was still looking at us in awe.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked us quietly.

I eyed him carefully. "Well, you are the principal, so of course we remember you," I responded, slightly confused by his behavior.

He let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. "You don't remember," he stated quietly.

"What exactly should we remember?" Chris asked him, sharing my confusion.

Mr. Volturi smile almost pitifully at us before he rose from his chair. "We're going back to where it all ended the last time," he announced, and joined Victoria and Irina.

The two of them were currently drawing something on the wall that looked like a door frame.

Mr. Volturi was filling two silver cups with the potion and positioned them on the floor on each and of the drawn door frame before he filled a third cup and waited for Irina and Victoria to finish.

Only then I noticed that the door frame wasn't drawn but written. They had written something on the wall in the shape of a frame and were mumbling something under their breaths.

"Master," a breathless voice spoke from behind us.

Both Chris and I turned as well as we could in our chairs at the sound.

"Edward! Dylan!" Chris and I exclaimed at the same time when we caught sight of the two boys.

Both of them looked up at the sound of their names and both of them looked horrified when they saw us.

I didn't understand this reaction, but I could ask them about it either, since Mr. Volturi was now walking towards the little group. He patted both Demetri and James' shoulders in some kind of grateful gesture and then circled around the two boys, watching them with interest.

"It's really fascinating," he mumbled. "You don't remember a thing but it seems like your patterns haven't changed all that much."

"Will you let them go?" Chris asked, ignoring his mumblings.

Mr. Volturi stopped pacing and looked at her with an amused expression. "Let them go? Now that would be a pretty stupid thing to do, don't you think?"

"Why? We are here and that's what you wanted or not?"

Mr. Volturi dashed toward her in blinding speed. I hadn't even seen him move. Hadn't Edward said that he didn't have a gift on his own? So why was he able to move this fast?

He knelt in front of Chris. "Amarantha, beautiful Amarantha," he said so gently that it caught me off guard. He took Chris' hands and placed them on his cheeks. "I don't intend to hurt you or your beloved ones, but I cannot let them go. I did that the last time and then you tricked all of us. I need them to come along, just to be sure that everything will go as planned," he explained swiftly, while looking at Chris as if he was asking for forgiveness.

"What are you talking about?" she asked and pulled her hands away. "And why are you calling me Amarantha?"

Mr. Volturi smiled lightly and got up.

"You have always liked me less than the others," he stated and then looked at me. "But I don't blame you for that"

"Master, we're done," the shrill voice of Victoria called.

Mr. Volturi turned and walked over to them, gesturing for Demetri and James to follow him.

As soon as the general attention was not on us anymore, Edward and Dylan moved to our sides quickly.

"What were you thinking coming here?" Edward instantly hissed, while he pulled me into his arms as close as he could.

"We just came to save you," I mumbled.

"You shouldn't have done that," Dylan said, leaning against the table. "It's not safe here for you."

"Can't you just be thankful that we care about you guys?" Chris complained, although it didn't sound like she was really complaining.

"Chris, you are not supposed to put yourself in danger because of me. You should have gone to find help or at least wait and see if Edward and I make it back on our own. We're not helpless, you know."

"Rose, Emmett and Alice went to Carlisle," I piped in quietly.

"Rose?" Edward wondered. "What about Alice's vision?"

"Rose didn't care," I told him.

"Well, I think it's time to make our exit now," Chris whispered and looked meaningfully at Dylan.

"We can't," Dylan replied.

"What do you mean?"

Edward turned around and knelt down. He pulled the collar of his shirt down for us to see his neck.

He had a small circle made up of signs I didn't recognize on his skin.

"What's that?" I asked, lightly tracing over the circle with my fingers.

"A Curse Mark. It pretty much closes us off from our magic abilities," Edward explained.

"So you can't even use your powers?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"We could, but that would set the curse off. It doesn't disable us from using our gifts, it merely paralyzes the whole body in case we try. At least that was what Mr. Volturi said while he put them on us. I didn't feel paralyzed when I tried it out, though. I only felt pain and no beaming," Dylan said.

"Great, so we're stuck here," Chris grumbled.

"No, you are not. The two of you can still leave," Edward insisted and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Just leave and get someone to help, but don't put yourselves in danger."

I gently put my hand on his cheek. "It's too late for that."

"As much as I hate to spoil this little moment of yours, we have work to do," the voice of Mr. Volturi suddenly spoke up from behind me, causing my heart to jump. His voice sounded colder than it had before and I shivered at the sound of it.

"Now the plan is quite simple," Mr. Volturi continued, the earlier friendliness in his voice slightly wavering. "We are going to step through the gate. I will lead the group, seeing as the two of you don't remember a single thing, and I will have my…_friends_…guarding you. None of you will be able to escape because if any of you tries, I'm simply going to set the Curse Marks off. The pain that the boys have experienced so far is nothing compared to what I can do when it comes to Curse Marks, so all of you will be better off cooperating."

All of us only looked at him during his speech.

He looked us over and then his smile returned before he made a motion with his hand, freeing Chris and me from our seats. Then he walked back to where Irina and Victoria had finished their scribbling on the wall, and picked up the cup that he had filled earlier. He spilled the liquid in it on the wall and it spread itself within the door frame on the wall until every little spot was covered in the shining blue light.

Mr. Volturi smiled proudly and then reached his hand out slightly toward the light. He didn't touch it though—he went straight through it.

I watched in awe when I saw him vanishing in the beautiful glow.

"Let's go. Ladies first," James said with a nasty sneer on his face and yanked both Chris and I through the door as well.

I felt a change of hot and cold while walking through it and once we were on the other side, I had to take a deep breath before I felt somewhat normal again.

I looked around and found that we were in the middle of a deep forest. It looked almost like a jungle.

I heard the rest of the group coming up from behind us and just a few seconds later I felt Edward's hand gripping mine tightly.

Mr. Volturi turned around with a big smile on his face. "Is everybody here?" he asked, sounding much like a teacher on a field trip.

I looked around and saw that James was still next to me, while his 'better half' was right next to Edward, who stood behind me.

The other two, Irina and Demetri, were hovering around Chris and Dylan and I noticed that Chris kept stealing glances in my direction, looking like she would prefer holding hands with me in that moment than Dylan.

I gave her a small smile and the nervous shifting of her eyes decreased a little.

"Let's get going, people," Mr. Volturi announced cheerfully.

**Chris POV**

The man was just plain weird. It was hard to believe he was evil when he was behaving like an over-motivated teacher, but still there was something about him that made him intimidating and even stranger, there was something about him that drew me in.

I wondered if Bella felt that too.

I let my eyes drift over our surroundings again and I couldn't shake this other feeling that I had. It was actually a mixture of different things, but it was definitely making me nervous.

Dylan sensed that and took my hand, wanting to comfort me. Unfortunately, his touch only made it worse.

I felt like I had been here before and that there was something I should remember, but couldn't. I felt uneasy and the most unsettling of all…I was scared.

All Bella could do was smile at me, which helped a little but I still felt the need to be close to her.

When our group started to move through the woods, I suddenly felt the presence of something that hadn't been there before.

It wasn't exactly a presence but a force that seemed to be weighing down on me.

"Where are we?" I whispered to Dylan. This place was starting to mess with my senses.

"That is an excellent question, Amarantha," Mr. Volturi called back to me. "We are in the so-called Astral Plane."

I frowned at his revelation and looked around once more. It felt like I had been here before, but nothing here looked familiar.

"The Astral Plane has various levels and most of them cannot be entered by teleporting," Dylan explained swiftly when he noticed my growing confusion. "The place where you have been was between life and death, the last stop before the end. This here is a little different. At least it feels like it."

"I always knew that I had brilliant students," Mr. Volturi commented. "We are currently between time and space. Personally, I don't like being here—it messes up my inner clock—but there is no way around it." Mr. Volturi gave me a meaningful look and then turned back around to continue leading us through the woods.

I briefly wondered why his cloak didn't get caught between all these branches.

Suddenly, I felt how my vision slightly blurred and I had to tighten my grasp on Dylan's hand to keep myself from falling.

"Chris, are you okay?" he asked worriedly and I immediately felt Bella's worry as well.

I nodded bravely. "I'm fine, just a little dizzy."

I thought I saw a tiny smile when I looked up and saw Mr. Volturi looking at us. He turned back around and suddenly I had the creeping suspicion that he had something to do with my current state.

"So, um…what exactly are we doing here?" Bella asked carefully after a few moments of silence.

"Just getting what is rightfully mine," Mr. Volturi answered, "to enable me to finally set the world right. I've been waiting for so many years that even I wonder sometimes if this obsession is healthy, but _they_ make sure to remind me of their presence every time again."

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Oh, don't you know what, Amarantha?" He smiled when he asked me that and I wondered if he liked calling me that on purpose.

Why did he call me Amarantha anyway?

Then I remembered and almost hit myself for not noticing that earlier.

"_These two wands belonged to Melantha and Amarantha."_ I heard Alistair's voice so clearly in my head that it rang in my ears.

Melantha and Amarantha; Heaven and Hell.

But why did he call me that?

Did he know about our wands and what stood in their boxes? Was he really crazy enough to believe that Bella and I were Heaven and Hell?

Suddenly, my head started spinning and I let go of Dylan's hand, only to throw my arms around him.

My vision blurred once more until everything was just a colorful mess.

And then my mind filled with images—memories that didn't belong to me but felt familiar all the same.

_A beautiful woman with dark brown hair stood in front of me and smiled lovingly. _"_You are very special, my child. You and your sister are going to change the world," she said._

The memory shifted and the same woman was now standing in front a fireplace talking to a tall, dark-haired man.

"_You cannot take them with you. They are witches, they need to stay with their kind," the woman said._

"_They are not witches—quit convincing yourself that they are. They are my children as well and I am going to take them to where they belong," the man replied._

"_They don't belong there! You are dooming the girls by taking them with you."_

"_Have you seen the power of Amarantha? She is perfect. She does things that take my kind a whole life to learn and she is only six years old! You can keep Melantha because she is in fact a witch. But I'm taking Amarantha with me—she belongs to us demons."_

Again the memory shifted, but the next one I saw wavered and was unclear.

_It was dark and yet I could see perfectly. I saw people bowing in front of me. I saw blood._

The scenery changed.

_I was pregnant and a man stood in front of me, frowning._

"_You shouldn't be doing this."_

"_It's too late for that."_

"_This will not end well!"_

"_Don't you want a child? Don't you think that a child would be a good thing?"_

_The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. _"_I do not deny that a child would be a good thing, but I'd rather have you carrying my own flesh and blood instead of the monster that is growing inside you now."_

"_He is not a monster!"_

"_But he is different."_

"_I'm different too, so does that make me a monster?"_

"_No, bu—"_

"_Did it ever occur to you that every child that will grow inside me is going to be different?"_

"_I have thought about it—"_

"_Then why are you insulting my child? My son is not a monster. You may call him a bastard, but he is not a monster."_

"_He is not a bastard either because I have agreed to marry you. I have sworn to stay by your side no matter what."The man was now kneeling down in front of me, rubbing my stomach ever so slightly._

"_But he is not your child," I whispered._

"_Forgive me, my love. I didn't mean to upset you. He is my son just as he is your son and I will be there for him as a father just as you are there for him. I didn't mean to hurt you or our son, but it breaks my heart to see you suffering like this. He is draining you physically more than any child should, while his brother sucks the magic out of your sister."_

"_They are very special children with very special needs. Each of them is unique and I am willing to suffer for them just like my sister is."_

The last thing I saw were three children playing in the yard, before I finally gained my sight back and returned to where I was.

I was kneeling on the ground with Dylan beside me, while Bella was struggling against Victoria to get close to me.

I couldn't concentrate on that though.

The image of the three children was still stuck in my mind and it shocked me more than anything else today.

I opened my mind for Bella to see what I saw and the moment she had caught sight of the three children, she went still.

"What does this mean?" she asked me so quietly that I shouldn't have been able to hear her.

I shook my head, telling her that I didn't know.

Then a chuckle came from Mr. Volturi. "Did the memories come back?" he asked.

"What did you do to her?" Bella asked him quietly, still looking at me.

"I opened her mind and enabled her to remember. I didn't know if it would work, so I tested it on her first before I decide to let you remember as well."

I stared at him, completely lost. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"I guess, I have to let you remember as well, otherwise we might have a little problem once we get to our destination," Mr. Volturi continued and now walked up to Bella.

Bella seemed to be waking from her daze and now struggled to get back to where she was before, but Victoria held her in a tight grip.

Mr. Volturi stood in front of her and smiled slightly apologetic. "I'm sorry if this causes you any pain," he said softly to her.

For a brief moment I wondered why he was son concerned about Bella, but seemed to be willing to test his skills out on me. Earlier he had been saying that he didn't want either of us hurt and he had been looking at the both of us with the same expression, when we all sat at the table.

Another memory struck me then.

"_Aro, get down there!"_

"_You are not my mother," the stubborn boy replied and climbed even higher on the tree._

"_Of course I am your mother and I just told you to get down from there. You'll hurt yourself."_

"_Why do you even care? Mommy is the one that loves me—not you."_

"_Aro, get down or I will shake you off that tree."_

_Reluctantly, the boy climbed down again and landed with a soft thud in front of me in the grass. He looked up at me. _"_Why do I have two mothers?"_

"_Because you are special."_

"_Are the others special too?"_

"_Yes, but they are not like you."_

"_Do you love the others more than me?"_

_I stared at him for moment. _"_Sometimes I do, but most of the times I love you all the same."_

"_Why do you love me less sometimes?"_

"_Because you are partly right—I'm not your mommy, and yet I am. I love you just like I love the others, but I wasn't the one to give birth to you, that is why sometimes I love the others more."_

"_Do you sometimes hate me?"_

"_Don't be absurd. I could never hate you, no matter what you do. Remember that, okay?"_

_The boy nodded, grinned and then threw his arms around me in a hug._

_I patted his head and ignored the feeling of energy being sucked out of my body._

_I may not hate him, but sometimes it felt as if he hated me._

"Whose memories are they?" I asked breathlessly and did my best to concentrate on the current situation.

Mr. Volturi halted in his movements and dropped Bella's hand.

Both of them looked at me. I didn't think that Bella saw the things that clouded my mind.

"They are my mother's," he replied.

"Your mother's?" I repeated thoughtfully.

"Yes. She was a very...forceful woman."

"You had two mothers," I stated, recalling the memory.

Mr. Volturi's smile widened, while everybody else just watched us in confusion and didn't say a word. "Yes, I did. One of them was my mother and the other one was not, ye—"

"Yet she was still your mother," I interrupted.

"Yes. I see that my little charm is working perfectly."

I ignored his last statement. "Why did you give me her memories?" I asked him, fighting to stay in my mind and not to be pulled into another flashback.

Mr. Volturi looked at me and shook his head slightly. "You remind me of her," he stated then.

"Did you hate her? Do you hate me?"

He looked shocked that I had asked this question and he immediately appeared by my side, taking my hands from Dylan and looking me deep in the eyes. "I have never hated you and I will never be capable of doing that. I have missed you in all those years just as much as I have missed my mother. I have blamed myself for your death many, many times but..." He stopped talking and looked at something far away. "I'm sorry that our reunion is not like you might have wanted it. You have to understand that I'm only doing this for the greater good. I don't like death and destruction any more than you do, but you have to understand that sometimes sacrifices have to be made."

"What are you talking about?" I whispered, tears starting to rise in my eyes. I didn't even know why, but suddenly I felt very sad.

_My heart broke for my son who was just so misguided._

Wait a minute…my son?

"I love you, Aro, but what you are doing is wrong," I whispered and squeezed his hands slightly. "What you intend to do is not the right thing—it's going to destroy life altogether."

"No, you don't understand. I don't want to destroy life. I just want to save my kind. The war has been going on for hundreds of years and no one is winning. The humans are slowly taking over the whole world and they extinguish our kind. It is not fair. We have a right to live as well."

"So do they," I replied.

He looked at me in anger. "No, they do not. They are filthy little creatures. They don't do anything good for this world and I am not going to sit back and watch my people die." He got up and walked back to Bella.

I blinked, confused as to why words had been escaping my mouth that I didn't even intend to say.

Bella's worried gaze rested on me, while I chewed on my bottom lip trying to think.

"Master, don't we have to get going soon? The gate will close eventually and then we will be stuck here," Irina suddenly whined.

"Shut up," Aro snapped at her, while he placed Bella's hands on his face just like he had done earlier with me. He mumbled something and it took me a second to realize that he was muttering a name.

Of course not just any name. It was Melantha.

He let go of Bella's hands and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before he resumed his walk through the woods, expecting us to follow him.

I didn't know what I had expected.

Fireworks, screaming, or Bella just having flashbacks like I did, but nothing happened so far.

Then it came to my mind that I didn't get the flashbacks right away, so it might take a while before they started.

I looked at Bella, who seemed to be a little dazed, while Edward gently took her in his arms, scowling at Victoria who had been holding her in a vicious grip before.

Victoria only sneered back at Edward and drew out her wand, holding it in his direction in a threatening manner. "Did you want to complain about something?" she asked in that shrill voice of hers.

Edward opened his mouth and was undoubtedly about to say something that might cause him pain only a few seconds later, but James was faster than him and spoke up first.

"Babe, wait at least until we actually get to the exciting part. I'm sure you will get to torture him more than enough then," he whispered to her, although loud enough for all of us to hear.

"And you, get up," Irina instructed then shoving me with her foot, since I was still sitting on the ground while Aro was starting to get out of sight.

I didn't budge though, feeling completely drained and exhausted. I had a feeling that this had something to do with Aro's ability, although I wasn't quite sure what it was. From what I had gathered so far, it seemed like he was absorbing energy.

"I said, get up," Irina repeated and suddenly I felt a yank on my hair.

The one thing I had always hated more than anything was when people yanked on my hair.

Then things happened really fast.

I cried out in pain, Dylan pushed Irina away from me who fell. Unfortunately, I had been standing up since she was pulling on my hair and when she fell, she pulled me down with her and ripped some of my hair out.

As soon as she was lying on the floor, Aro reappeared and looked at her menacingly. "What have I told you about hurting them?" he barked in the coldest and cruelest voice I have ever heard.

I shivered and saw Bella do the same just before her eyes became unfocused.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Irina suddenly screamed, sounding like she was in pain.

I looked back at her and saw that Aro still towered over her, his left foot touching the side of her body. "That's what I thought," he replied flatly and then turned on his heel to resume his walk.

James hurried to grab me by my arm and pull me along while Demetri did the same with Bella and Victoria turned around and grinned at Irina who was slowly getting back on her shaky legs.

I looked up at Dylan in horror, who eyed me in return with an inspecting gaze.

"Are you okay?" he asked me after a few seconds quietly.

I nodded.

It was weird. Bella and I had come to rescue the guys but now I felt like we were the captives while the boys were here for support.

The walk was now silent and everyone tried to keep up with Aro until Bella suddenly started to stumble and fell to the ground.

"Not again," James grumbled and then turned to Edward. "You, carry her!"

Edward obliged immediately if not even earlier. He swept Bella into his arms quickly, while she was staring into space, moving her lips slightly.

I looked at her worriedly until Dylan leaned down and whispered into my ear, "She's okay. It's the same thing that you did earlier."

I nodded slowly and turned my gaze back to the countless trees, but not without looking in Bella's direction every few seconds.

Eventually we made it to a trail that seemed to be leading towards a meadow.

I had a feeling that the goal was coming closer.

"Ah, can you feel it? We're getting closer," Aro called from the front.

The end of the trail was already in sight and I saw a giant rock blocking the way.

As we got closer I came to realize that there was a cave in it, which was probably our goal.

Another memory crept into my mind.

_I was running down the trail, giggling was no way that she would catch me!_

_I turned to look if she was anywhere in sight. Of course, since my attention was no longer at where I was going, I tripped._

_I fell straight into the bushes that had always been at the end of the trail._

_The leaves and branches surrounded me and got on my nerves very quickly._

_I somehow got up and fought myself through it, only to get out on the other side of these bushes._

_I had never known that there was something behind those masses of plants._

_I looked up at the giant rock in front of me and was in awe when I noticed the cave opening._

"_Melantha, come here fast. There is something here that you might want to see," I called over my shoulder._

_It didn't surprise me that she hadn't been far and as soon as I knew she was right by my side, I led the way inside._

Just when I actually wanted to see how it continued for once, it ended. As if I hadn't been punished enough with the current situation.

The closer we got to the cave, the weirder I started to feel.

A strange power made its way through my system, making me feel highly alert.

I felt something similar coming from Bella, just before a sudden spark ignited the bond.

"Nightmare and Houdini, keep the boys in check. I don't want any unpleasant surprises now," Aro called back to us.

Victoria and James immediately obliged. Just like that, the two of them separated Dylan and me, and pushed me toward Bella.

Now the two of us were between Victoria and James with Irina behind us and Demetri in front, while Edward seemed to have James' wand in his back and Dylan had Victoria's.

"What are you doing? You can't—" I started to protest, but my struggle was cut short when Aro came to a stop, halting the whole group.

"Stop complaining," Victoria sneered. "Just be happy that we haven't killed the two of them yet and do your job." She grabbed a hold of me and then dragged me with her.

I hadn't even noticed that we had come to halt in front of the cave until Victoria had started dragging me in, letting Dylan lead the way.

I turned as good as I could and looked straight in the eyes of Edward.

The remorse and guilt that I had suppressed the whole time now made its way to the surface.

I tried to smile encouragingly at Edward, but I knew that I failed miserably and that my emotions were written clearly on my face.

Edward shook his head slightly and smiled comfortingly at me. "It's not your fault, Chris," he whispered silently.

I opened my mouth to protest but Aro's presence made me shut my mouth.

He breezed past us and led the way through the dark tunnel. He muttered something that I didn't understand, but I was pretty sure that no one did.

The tunnel continued for a little while until I could see a light at the end of it.

We all made our way towards it, but just when everyone could see the actual cave clearly illuminated in front of them, Aro stopped the group again.

"The girls are going in first," he instructed and shot stern looks at Victoria and James.

Aro's minions let go of us and I felt how I was being pushed toward him. Bella stumbled next to me while Aro smiled hugely at the two of us.

"At last we have made it to this point where we will finally unlock those powers that have been sealed so many centuries ago. I have waited for this moment a very long time," he said before he took both our hands and pulled us gently into the cave.

As soon as I stepped into the illuminated space I felt a strange power vibrating within me once more.

I looked around in search of the source, but saw nothing more than stone walls.

Aro tugged us along to the wall right in front of us and then looked at us expectantly.

I cast a look in Bella's direction, but she only shrugged, just as confused as I was.

"What do you want?" I asked Aro then.

He looked at us with a small frown, but then sighed in defeat. Meanwhile I could hear the others shuffling in behind us.

"I had hoped that you would remember how to open the seal. Well, maybe you are not really in touch with yourselves yet."

With one simple movement, he caused both me and Bella to fly across the place.

I hit the wall with my back and hissed out in pain before I looked up to see Bella on my opposite side.

I heard Edward and Dylan shout our names, but I didn't look at them. Instead, I stared up at Aro.

He stood there, no longer looking as friendly as he had before. His expression was empty now. "I will try to make the seal visible to help you remember, but I'm telling you that this is the limit of my patience. I want that seal broken," he said in an eerily calm voice.

I stared wide-eyed at Bella.

Then another memory struck me and I squeezed my eyes shut.

_I was in this exact cave, standing in front of the stony wall in a protective stance. Every part of my body hurt and I could feel my energy leaving me._

_"You will not get it," I hissed at the two grown men in front of me._

_Time had passed too fast. It wasn't too long ago that those two had been little children, who both looked up to me and my sister._

_Now we both stood here with the very last ounce of power left in our bodies and had to look into their cold faces. Had we done something wrong? Or had Caleb been right and these children really are monsters?_

_I looked at my sister next to me just when she had turned to look at me. We both knew that this was the end._

_Our own sons would be the ones to end our lives…_

A sudden blast pulled me back into reality.

I looked up and saw Aro lying on the ground several feet away from where he had been before.

"Master!" Irina immediately screeched and hurried to help him up.

He only pushed her aside. "It seems my powers are not enough for this level of magic," he said in a cold voice. "The two of you should be able to make it on your own though." The expectant look he gave us made me feel helpless. "Well?" he pressed.

"What do you want us to do?" Bella asked quietly, just as lost as I was

"What do I want you to do?" he asked. "What do I want you to do?" Aro's calm demeanor and patience must have worn off.

None of it was left now as he screamed at my twin sister, who flinched back at the sound of his voice.

"I want you to open this goddamn seal—that the two of you created in the first place—and unlock the power that is rightfully mine!"

"If it is indeed yours, then why is it sealed away? Shouldn't you have it in your possession?" I questioned from where I sat, wanting to turn his attention away from Bella.

In a flash, Aro was by my side. "Don't make me hurt you. I regret being the cause of your death, but if you keep this up, I will actually be the one to kill you," he hissed.

"You already did that the last time," I spat back.

"No, I didn't do it. You just died, sacrificing yourself for those filthy humans. None of them deserved that, but you did it anyway. That just shows that this power was never meant for you. It is mine and you are going to give it to me."

Again, I felt a weird flash of power go through me. I suddenly had the feeling that this place was increasing my powers.

I squared my shoulders and looked Aro straight in the eyes before I calmly said, "No."

"Yes, you will."

"Make me."

I instantly regretted my choice of words when I saw the cruel smile on Aro's face.

"Victoria," he called.

I heard a nasty giggle come from her before a new sound filled the room.

A scream of pain. Victoria only pointed her wand at Dylan but he was writhing on the floor screaming out in pain as if he was being tortured.

I stared for the tiniest moment before tears rose in my eyes and I scrambled to my feet. "Stop! Stop it!"

A sudden force slammed me back against the wall and I saw Bella being thrown back as well.

Aro made a sign toward Victoria and whatever she had done before stopped now because Dylan stopped screaming.

He didn't move anymore and seemed to be catching his breath.

The tears in my eyes blurred my sight, but I stood anyway. "Okay, okay, I'll do it. But how?"

Aro smiled pitifully. "You are the one with the great skill, you should know." He simply gestured toward the wall before he made a sign again and this time the screams of Edward and Dylan rang in my ears.

Sobbing madly along with Bella, the two of us tried to find something—anything—on that wall that would tell us what we should do.

The sobbing became impossibly worse when I discovered that there was nothing.

"You weren't so slow when you were sealing it," Aro noted from behind us and the screams of the boys got impossibly louder.

The sound filled my ears and made my head spin. In the same moment, I felt another memory making its way into my mind. I prayed silently that it would help me in this situation.

_I held my sister's hand and concentrated on the last thing that I was about to do for this world. I felt Melantha's presence and her magic building up as well._

_This was it. The end for us, but hopefully a new beginning for the world._

_I had been ready to let go. I hadn't even dared to hope for anything just when a new presence filled the room._

_I opened my eyes and looked at the new addition just like everybody else did. The joy, confusion and surprise that my sister felt were the exact same thing that I had been feeling._

I felt how my mind seemed to have trouble keeping up with the constant changes and dealing with my emotional state. I struggled to stay focused but the blackness was too inviting. It only got worse when I felt that Bella had similar problems. Then suddenly, a deep rumble was to be heard in the cave.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and the silence that followed enabled us to hear the next rumble. The earth vibrated lightly to the sound.

Then it got louder and the earth shook a little harder.

I turned to look at Bella but she was not looking at me. Her eyes were closed.

I reached through the bond but something kept me from entering her thoughts. I only felt a strange mixture of emotions coming from her that all seemed to vibrate along with the earth.

The rumble that we heard came from beneath us, and just when I had discovered that fact, the ground parted right in front of the wall were Bella and I knelt.

A mass of water made its way through, climbing up the wall.

Suddenly I knew what to do. Instinctively I placed my hands on the ground in front of me and turned every ounce of concentration inward.

The flames I felt were raging, but I didn't have the time to calm down completely. I willed every flame I could into my hands, hoping to get a result. The fire obliged reluctantly.

I opened my eyes to see my hands blazing. Then the flames moved very fast.

They shot out on both sides and crawled up the wall as well, starting to cover it from above while Bella's water slowly built up from below.

In a matter of minutes those two elements would collide, which wasn't something that should happen.

_Slowly_, I whispered to the fire, _very slowly_.

But the flames didn't listen. I didn't have control on this mass of fire and I knew now that I might feel more powerful in this place, but I couldn't deal with it.

I felt that Bella was struggling as well, but I had to return my concentration back to my element. I tried to slow the movements down but nothing happened. The fire continued its way down the wall while the water kept flowing up.

And then it happened, the thing that we should have prevented.

Our two elements collided.

In the same moment as these two opposites touched, Bella and I stopped trying to influence them.

But it was too late.

A force that was stronger than anything I had ever felt erupted from this collision and threw both Bella and I back. It was like a huge explosion, just with no sound.

The air was whirling around madly, throwing everyone on the floor.

In this mess, I tried to look around. The dirt that had been lying on the floor was whirled up as

well, but I could see Bella crawling towards James.

"Bella, what are you doing?" I called over the sharp sound of the wind.

In her mind I saw what she was planning. She wanted to get to Edward and pull him out of this cave.

_That's insane, Bella. You'll never make it!_ I thought to her.

"Get Dylan and then we are out of here," she shouted toward me.

"Bella, we can't leave!" I shouted back to her.

"Get him."

The wind was starting to die down and everyone was trying to get back on their feet.

I reached Dylan before Victoria could and pulled him into my lap. At the same time I saw that Bella had reached Edward and had pushed James aside while she pulled his weak figure into a tight embrace and sobbed.

Dylan was breathing somewhat evenly and opened his left eye slightly as the wind died down and sent me the best smile he could muster. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Don't cry, I'm fine," he said in a weak voice and reached up in an attempt to wipe away my tears.

I was pulled away, though, by an unseen force and I knew that Aro had regained the control of the situation.

"Your job is only halfway done," he said when he had both Bella and me floating slightly above the ground beside him. He turned with us around to face the wall on which we had just worked our magic.

A big circle-like sign was on the wall now.

I knew instantly that it was a seal even if it looked nothing like the ones we had seen before.

Between the two outer circles were various signs written that I couldn't decipher. On four spots in that circle were different signs that looked more like little pictures. The one at the bottom looked like a flame and the one at the top like a wave. The four signs were connected with lines and in the middle where all lines met was another circle.

"Open it," Aro instructed. He let go of us and started to pace around us. "I have been waiting too long to have this ruined by two teenagers," he spat. "You should embrace your former existence quickly; otherwise I will be forced to kill your partners again."

Before I could ask Bella if she had any idea what we should do now, I had another flashback.

_The two men in front of us whirled around in surprise._

"_You!" the two of them hissed._

"_Don't even think about hurting them," the third one replied, his voice filled with the same hatred._

_A sudden flash illuminated the room..._

A thundering sound was suddenly coming from the tunnel and a lightning bolt struck right in the middle of the cave.

Irina and Demetri immediately turned toward the entrance and took on defense stances.

Another bolt struck forward, causing the two of them to jump aside.

A cloaked figure made its way into our midst, their wand directed at Aro.

"Let them go," the person beneath the hood roared.

I knew the voice all too well and I'd never felt more relieved by the arrival of a teacher.

"Laurent," I whispered.

I didn't know if he had noticed me saying his name because he instantly let another lightning bolt shoot out of his wand and in Aro's direction.

Aro merely held open his hand as if to catch it and I saw how he seemed to absorb he whole thing like a sponge.

Aro looked unaffected for a moment until little flashes of light shot out of his body on various place and he hissed in pain.

Laurent moved the hood of his cloak, revealing his face and the smug smile he wore.

Just then, another cloaked figure entered the room, but she didn't wear her hood on her head.

Irina, who had gotten back on her feet, immediately launched herself at Ms. Carmina, while Victoria and James both grabbed Edward and Dylan with their wands drawn.

I looked back at Aro and Laurent who were now shooting lightning bolts back and forth, although Aro didn't need a wand for that. When I returned my attention to Ms. Carmina, I saw her shooting a strangely colored light ball at Demetri, who lost his wand and didn't pay attention when she sprung onto her hands, kicked him so hard that he flew against the wall, and got back to her feet again.

With one swift twirl she was facing Irina now, who kept a safe distance now that she had seen that Ms. Carmina knew some physical fighting techniques.

"What do we do?" I asked Bella.

"Get the boys," she replied instantly and moved in the direction of James and Victoria.

I followed her, but as soon as we moved closer, both of them pointed their wands at the boys threateningly.

"One more step and he's dead," James warned.

Neither of the boys looked very much alive at that moment, but that hardly mattered.

I allowed the raging flames within me to break free and as soon as my whole body was blazing up, I was teleporting myself right next to James.

He was surprised at this new development and enabled me to grab a hold of his wand which was then a stick on fire.

In the corner of my eye I saw Edward being carried away by little waves.

Then all of a sudden, a mass of water crushed down on me. I was pushed back to the ground and fell right on top of Edward, who seemed to be more awake than I thought.

I saw Victoria towering over me with an evil grin. Behind her, I saw Bella slowly creeping up to James. Without his wand, it seemed like he was powerless because it didn't seem to enter his mind to just turn invisible.

I only had to distract Victoria, so Bella could get Dylan away from James.

"Is that all you can do?" I snapped at the red-haired harpy in front of me. My strength was leaving me now that I was soaking wet and I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would faint.

Victoria's eyes glinted dangerously and she yanked me up on my hair just like Irina had earlier.

I cried out in pain.

"No, don—" I heard Aro shout but his protest was cut short by another flash of light.

"You little bitch. Just because you are the key to our success doesn't mean that I don't see you for what you are. You are just a filthy human. You don't deserve to live, but I can't kill you, so I'll just have to settle for your little friend." She pulled me to her side, still holding me up by my hair, which brought the tears back into my eyes.

I saw Edward slowly trying to sit up and judging by the way he was moving toward me, he was trying to help me.

I tried to free myself and wiggled around as much as I could in Victoria's grip. She only hissed various curses at me, until I discovered a knife tied to her ankle.

I had stretch to reach it and when I did, I felt the pulling force on my hair getting stronger, while Victoria now started to torture Edward again.

"Stay strong, Edward," I whispered, hopefully loud enough for him to hear me over his screams and over the gurgling noise that now came from behind us.

I reached the knife and sighed in relief when I had it.

Victoria noticed this, of course.

"Silly girl, do you honestly think this is going to work on me? You didn't ash my wand yet," Victoria sneered.

I realized that she was right.

But then I felt how my legs slowly started to dry. I knew that it was Bella's doing.

I contemplated my options for a few moments.

"Are you not gonna start a pathetic attempt to free yourself?" Victoria asked and giggled. She pointed her wand at Edward again and his screams mixed with the battle sounds around us.

I felt how Bella's control wavered and so I sprang into action right away.

I lifted the knife and reached up behind me.

Victoria's screeching laughter increased.

I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the stunt that I was trying to pull off.

With one quick movement, the pull on my hair was gone and I was free to move again.

I turned around fast, still on the floor, and willed the remaining flames in my body to project themselves into my feet, which were the only dry part on my body just then.

I kicked Victoria away with both feet just when she had been about to lift her wand.

She fell right in front of Bella, who had produced an icicle in her hand.

The horrified look in Victoria's eyes was too much for me and I turned my attention in another direction.

Dylan was trying to get up not too far from me.

My head whipped back and forth between Edward and Dylan, but Edward motioned for me to go and assist his brother.

"Thanks," he mouthed and attempted to smile. It only came out as a grimace of pain.

I quickly crawled over to where Dylan was collapsing back on the ground, ignoring the pain in my body.

I put his head gently into my lap and he grabbed a hold of my hand.

"I still have one wish left, right?" he asked me quietly—almost too quiet in this noise.

I nodded my head fiercely.

"Please don't leave," he whispered and then his eyes drifted shut.

I leaned my forehead against his, letting my tears fall until the darkness finally wrapped me in its arms.

**Bella POV**

I stared down at the woman lying in front of me, raising the icicle above my head, ready to strike.

The hatred I felt for her in that moment was so strong that it even surprised me and I wanted nothing more than for her to die.

And yet, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Just like when I had attempted to drown James by creating a water bubble around his head.

The gurgling sounds that left his mouth had brought me back to reality and I let him free. Now he was unconscious on the floor.

I felt Edward slowly approaching me from behind. His long fingers closed around my hands and he gently pulled them down.

"You know that you are better than them, Bella," he whispered softly so that no one apart from me heard him.

"But she has hurt you so much… I just want her dead," I choked out, knowing full well what I was saying.

"But do you really intend to kill her?" he asked.

Victoria was only laying there, her eyes closed. She had hit the floor pretty hard and was now unconscious as well.

"I wished that I was able to do it, but I can't."

"Then don't," Edward said softly and tried to pry the icicle out of my hands. He laid one soft kiss on my cheek and made every negative emotion vanish just like that. The icicle in my hand turned back into water and dripped out of my grasp, while I leaned against Edward and took deep breaths.

"Are you okay?" I asked him softly.

"I'm all better now," he replied and closed his arms around me.

The last thing I heard was someone screaming something about Aro getting away before I drifted away like I had wanted to the whole time.

* * *

_**A/N:**_** Finally, this chapter is done! I know that it's shorter than the others but I couldn't type anymore. I've had this chapter planned for ages and even changed a few things to make it more entertaining. Now that it's done I feel oddly relieved- like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulder *phew***

**I'm not sure if I can answer all of your question, just in case this chapter suddenly made you feel like you had to ask questions. **

**Leave a review and I'll do my best to get back at you ;)**

**Lot's of love to all of you *throws love into the crowd***


	23. The Aftermath

_**A/N:**_** Back again! Yes, it was pretty quick, although I have to warn you... the chapter is pretty short (compared to all the others) **

**There are actually two reason why this update is there so fast:**

**1) I have been waiting to type this particular part ever since chapter 10!**

**2) I didn't have the patience to wait for my beta to send me the chapter -.-'**

**Which basically means, that this chapter is not betaed and I apologize for that but I already have this done since sunday and I actually wanted to update right then and there, but the dearet fish insisted on betaing it despite the fact that she was busy, which eventually resulted in me not getting to update.**

**And since I have been a pretty crappy updater these last few months, I decided not to wait for her since I'm not a patient person at all and I am already typing the next one ( which is almost done)**

**Alright, before you guys go on and read the chapter I'm gonna make a quick answering round:**

**_lishthefish- _Love you loads and really appreaciate your work :D I'm pretty sure that everyone else does too, otherwise they would have to deal with my sometimes, quite crappy English skills**

**_McAliceBonesPotter 'red head (wasn't your penname once shorter? ;P)- _I really, really admire your enthusiasm. You once said that 'you know that your reviews are meaningless' or something along those lines and I'm just gonna tell you right now that they're not. I really love reading them and I appreciate it very much that you take the time to review. I think I will be quite upset if you ever stop reviewing**

**_deathfearsnone- _Ah yes. I'm sorry if my incapability to update regularly has been giving you the impression that I stoped typing :O I do not intend to do such a thing- especially not since I have all of you guys who are faithfully reading my story and making me update again.**

**_kels-Alice-Cullen- _Once again a very, very nice review that made me grin like the idiot I sometimes am :) I'm quite honoured (or is it honored? I don't even know) that you think so highly of me. I'm trying to be the best writer I can be and it's definitely worth it when I see that people are enjoying the outcome of my maniac typing.**

**And last but not least: _Starfishseason- _I think I mentioned it before to you that I loe your penname, but I ahve to say it again: I love it! Of course, I do with me being 'Star' and my faithful beta/partner in crime being the 'Fish'. Both of us feel oddly proud, despite the fact that we are probably not even the reason of that name (Sometimes you just have to go with wishful thinking) Anyway, thank you for recommending my story to your friend- a friend who never read Fanfiction at that. I feel midly guilty though that she is apparently now reading so much that she doesn't get anything done -.-' hehehe sorry about that... still I am happy to have gained another reader and as you can see your very subtle hint has led me to update before Christmas.**

**Alright, now you can go on and read :D**

* * *

Bella POV

"_Mother? Why is father taking Amarantha with him?" I asked the tall woman next to me._

_She gave me a sad smile._

"_He wants her to learn some new magic with him," she explained softly._

"_And what about me? Doesn't he want me to learn with me?" _

"_Oh, he wants to but I wanted to learn with someone as well, so I asked your father if it was okay if he only took Amarantha with him and I would keep you."_

_She now knelt down, looked at me and smiled brightly._

_I knew that she was lying but I smiled back at her anyway._

* * *

"_Amarantha!" I called, when I saw the carriage coming to a halt in front of our house._

_I dashed down the stairs as fast as I could and ran out on the street._

_The young woman that descended the carriage, smiled when she saw me and I couldn't help but grin back._

_She had changed a lot since we had last seen each other, which of course had to be expected since we hadn't seen each other in the last 10 years._

_As soon as her feet hit the ground she ran toward me and hugged me tightly._

"_I missed you so much, Mel. I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed you," she whispered to me and let out a happy giggle._

_I smiled at her words and felt how tears started to run down my cheeks._

"_I missed you too," I replied and continued crying happy tears._

* * *

"_You can not get married to a mortal!"_

"_I can and I will," I snapped back at my father._

"_No, you will not. I forbid you to see this man ever again," he roared._

"_I don't care what you say. I am going to marry him and there is nothing you can do about it."_

"_Melantha, why can't you be more like your sister? Do you see her running off with some human?"_

_I scoffed at that. "Actually, I think I recall how Amarantha and the other prince had gotten along quite well. If I'm not mistaking, they are both at the port together right now."_

_Now, he really did let out a roar that caused the earth to shake the tiniest bit._

"_What did I ever do to deserve this punishment?" he mumbled._

"_Other fathers would be happy to know that their daughter is getting married to a prince. At least I will be taken good care of."_

"_I can take care of you and your sister myself," he spat._

"_I do not recall you doing such thing for me," I replied and then turned to walk out of the room._

* * *

_The body of a dead woman lay on the bed in front of me._

"_I couldn't save her," I whispered, when I heard how someone entered._

_Amarantha put a comforting hand on my shoulder._

"_Sometimes things are just not meant to work," she said to me._

"_I know, but I didn't only failed to save her life. She is pregnant, even if she hadn't known that."_

_Amarantha didn't reply to that but I knew that she was shocked by these news._

"_Her child died as well?" she then asked quietly._

_I placed my hand on the woman's womb and searched for any sign of life. The little spark I'd felt when I discovered her pregnancy was still there._

"_No, not yet," I stated,"But it's not only one child."_

"_Twins?"_

"_No, triplets."_

_Amarantha looked at me for a long time. Her thoughts were going wild, but eventually we both came to one and the same solution._

* * *

I scrunched up my nose. The familiar smell of hospital entered my nose.

We'd definitely spent too much time in this place.

The pain I felt in my head told me that it was probably for the best.

I carefully opened my eyes and much to my surprise I was not met with blinding light.

It was dark in the room and quiet.

The only thing I could hear was the even breathing that came from my left side.

Thanks to the bond, I knew that it was Chris who was in the room with me.

I sat up slowly in my bed ignoring the throbbing ache in my head.

I didn't even know where that came from.

Resting my aching head on my knees, I tried to remember the events that had taken place before we somehow landed here.

I remembered vaguely a sobbing Jasper and an ashed door. The way to the deserted building in which we had hoped to find the boys was also still more or less fresh in my mind.

But after that things started to blur a little.

Irina had been there, that much was clear and I was pretty sure to have seen the janitor and the secretary as well.

Then the events hit me like a speeding train.

Mr. Volturi entering the room. The curse marks on Edward and Dylan.

All of us going to the astral plane. A spell that Aro Volturi had put on us and made Chris and I see the memories of his mother or mothers. I wasn't sure. There had been some kind of conversation about that and I had a flashback concerning that particular topic, but nothing concrete really to explain the situation with Aro's heritage.

Then there had been this cave...

_The cave._ Edward.

Was he okay? I didn't remember anything in that area. Who had taken us to the hospital? Probably Laurent and Ms. Carmina. Was Edward in the hospital as well?

I decided that it couldn't harm if I snug out and looked.

I quietly slipped out of the bed, briefly wondering who had put me into yoga pants, and tiptoed over to the door.

I turned around to look over at Chris' bed, but she hadn't heard anything.

She just turned around and let out a sigh.

I slipped out of the room and closed the door behind me, careful not to make any noise.

Glancing around the corridor, I quickly came to notice that there was no one but me there.

At the far left I saw a nurse passing by, but she didn't notice me. She was too busy directing the floating bedsheets in front of her.

Now that I was outside it actually came to my mind that I had no clue where to look for Edward.

I breathed out a sigh and leaned against the door behind me.

Maybe I should think I plans through next time.

I turned and was about to slip back into my room, when I heard a few familiar voices closing in.

I quickly dove into the room but left the door open a bit to enable me to listen in on the conversation.

Yes, eavesdropping was bad, but I was pretty sure that I had heard my name and Chris'.

"How exactly do you expect that to work, Laurent?" I heard a male voice hiss. I didn't know that particular voice, but the person that answered was definitely Laurent.

"Simple. You just let me continue my work and don't get in my way."

"Do you honestly think that you are going to continue to work like this after this major fiasco?"

"It wasn't our f-" I recognized the voice of Ms. Carmina, but she was interrupted.

"It was a hole in the security. We can't afford mistakes like that. Isabella and Christabel have to be safe at all times and what happened tonight was definitely not safe."

The voice were now right beside my door, but they didn't make a move to get inside.

They didn't even notice me peeking out.

"If you people hadn't made us go through an unnecessarily long process before we actually got to-"

"One of you could have stayed behind. Or you could have left them with better protection. This had been a close call, we almost lost everything."

"Well, we stepped in at the right moment and saved everything, so maybe you should just cool down Amun. I don't even know what's going on with you. Last time I checked, you weren't our superior," Ms. Carmina snapped.

"Don't think that you are better than me now only because you have been working together with Laurent."

"Oh, I am better than you," Ms. Carmina replied bitterly.

"Is that so? I don't supposed that you are referring to the fact that you, Alicia, are an abandoned demon princess, right? As far as I remember, you lost that title, the second you chose to betray your family-"

"That's enough," Laurent barked and I flinched back slightly in my little hiding place.

"Amun, when are the others going to arrive?"

"I believe they should be here within the next hour."

"Then please go and welcome them. Alicia, you go and get Carlisle and I'll take care of a few eavesdropping girls."

His gaze immediately came to rest on me, causing me to flinch back and bump into another body.

"Should we run back to our beds and act as if we're fast asleep?" Chris asked quietly, while all three adults now turned their gazes to us.

They all heard Chris' question and while Ms. Carmina looked amused, Amun wore a slight frown on his face.

Amun was a rather tall and statuesque man with very dark hair and matching eyes. His skin had a slightly sandy complexion leading me to think that he must be Arabic or something.

"We could try and hope that he'll buy it," I answered, looking at Laurent while saying that.

He quirked an eyebrow at me and wore a slightly amused expression as well.

"Let's go then," Chris instructed and yanked on my arm.

Both of us quickly hopped into our beds and and threw the covers over our heads.

When Laurent entered the room he must have decided to humor us.

He crossed the room and took a seat between both our beds.

He didn't say anything and neither did Chris or I. After a few minutes it started to get ridiculous.

"How did you know where to find us and how did you even get there?" I finally asked, when the silence became too much for me.

"It wasn't really that hard," Laurent answered. "I came home and none of you were there, but judging by the chaos that you have left you must have been there. I tried to track you down, but your gifts are not easy to sense and your friends had been all over the place. The only one that seemed to be unmoving was Mr. Hale and when I found him, I also found the note that Irina had left for you.

When I got to the conference building I met Ms. Carmina and the gate was still open so we simply followed."

"Ms. Carmina? How did she get there first?" Chris asked in wonder. Both of us sat up in our beds.

"She went to talk to Carlisle and there she must have met your friends."

"Where are Edward and Dylan?" Chris and I asked at the same time.

Laurent looked first at me and then at Chris. "They are both in the room to your left. Mr. Hale is in an isolated room at the top floor."

"What is wrong with Jasper?" I asked worriedly, remembering his outburst all to well.

"He is fine. From what I could gather the two of you wore him out with your constantly changing emotions. Or maybe you were feeling too much so that he couldn't handle it. I'm not exactly sure, but it seems like something must have been opened that had been closed tightly before. It's an expansion of his gift, but unfortunately he is not ready to deal with it yet."

"What does that mean?" Chris asked.

Laurent tilted his head to the side and seemed to be in deep concentration.

"His empathic ability has taken on a new dimension. I've never really seen anything like it. I've only met one other empath so far and she had to make physical contact to be truly sensing other people's emotions although she couldn't influence them as much as he can.

"His range has widened- almost the whole campus is within his range now. Also there seems to be a new aspect of his gift. He doesn't know it yet, but it seems like it's not only human emotions that are making their way through his mind."

"What else is there? Trees?" Chris sounded disbelieving.

"That's part of it."

"Is it our fault?" I mumbled, feeling bad as soon as I thought about Jasper's expression when we had last seen him.

"No, it was bound to happen sooner or later. You just exhilarated the process and caught him off guard."

That did not make me feel better in the slightest but I nodded anyway, not replying to that.

All of us stayed silent for a moment.

I leaned back into the pillows of my bed, feeling exhausted.

So much had happened and now I felt like I could sleep for days.

"Are you ever gonna tell us what all of this is about?" Chris wondered after a little while.

"What are you talking about?"Laurent asked back.

"First, we get an acceptance letter with a mind controlling spell on it. Then we find dead animals and giant spiders in our rooms. After that one of the people on campus was killed right after talking to us about mysterious stuff that no one understood. Then we find something that suspiciously sounds like a prophecy.

"To make everything worse, we are being watched by a bunch of weirdos and one of our classmates tried to kill us. And last but not least, said classmate kidnaps our friends and it turns out that she did it on behalf of the school's principal, who seems to be more than just a little crazy and put some kind of spell on us that now enables us to see every little thing that had happened in the life of his mother or mothers- who the hell knows."

Laurent stared at her, looking mildly panicked while she was talking.

"He put a spell on you? What exactly does that spell do?"he demanded right away, ignoring Chris' statement completely.

"It seems like I can see the memories of Melantha," I told him.

"And I see Amarantha's," Chris added.

"What have you seen so far?"

"A few things, but nothing too much worth mentioning really. Well, it is but still..."

"Hey, I thought Melantha and Amarantha were supposed to be Heaven and Hell," I stated, getting to think this through for the first time.

"Umm... yes?" Chris answered, trying to catch on on my thoughts.

"Then how is it possible that they are Aro's mothers or whatever it is now?"

Chris hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, if they are indeed the the creatures of witches and demons, shouldn't they be everybody's mothers? But then again, it doesn't make sense, because I saw Aro as a child in one of the flashbacks..." Chris let her voice trail off.

"The story about Heaven and Hell that you were being taught in school is wrong," Laurent commented and got up from his chair, starting to pace around.

Both Chris and I looked at each other in question and then turned our gazes to Laurent's pacing figure.

"I'm not supposed to tell you the story. _He_ insisted on doing it himself," he mumbled.

"Tell us what?" I asked carefully.

Laurent stopped for a moment to look at me with a blank expression.

"What this is all about," he said flatly.

I stared at him in confusion just when the door suddenly opened.

"Does anyone mind explaining to me why you are all sitting here in the dark?" I heard Ms. Carmina ask, but I couldn't look at her because the light that came form the hallway blinded me.

I had barely noticed that the light had been off in the room, since I had been able to see enough in the dark and apparently neither Chris nor Laurent had had a problem with the darkness either.

"I brought you some visitors," she added when nobody answered her.

I blinked a few times until I could actually see Ms. Carmina standing in the doorway. But she was alone.

I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I kinda lost them when we passed the room of the two Cullen boys. If I just heard Carlisle correctly, then you are allowed to get out of your beds and join them."

She didn't need to tell me that twice.

Without a second look at anyone I was out of my bed and bursting into the next room.

The group of people in there looked up-startled by my abrupt appearance.

Both Edward and Dylan were sitting in a bed, looking a bit pale but other than that quite alright.

I ignored the others sitting on chairs around them and dashed toward Edward.

"I was so worried about you," I instantly started to sob when I tripped into his arms.

He started to stroke my hair soothingly.

"Calm down, Bella. Everything's alright," he murmured.

I only whimpered in response.

"Bella, you sound like a baby," Chris yawned from somewhere behind me.

I turned and wanted to glare at her, but when I caught sight of her I noticed that I had been missing something when we were sitting in the dark.

"When did you do that?" I asked her in shock.

She looked at me with raised eyebrows, obviously confused what I was talking about.

Everyone in the room turned their attention to Chris.

"What the hell happened?" Dylan demanded immediately and attempted to get out of his bed.

"Dylan!" Carlisle warned him calmly from his place next to his bed.

"But-"

"No."

"Chris, what did you do?" Alice asked in shock.

Meanwhile Chris looked at all of us with a confused expression.

Then I suddenly remembered when this had happened and I calmed down.

I turned to look at Edward, who seemed to be the only one who hadn't be surprised. In fact he looked like he felt guilty.

Chris looked at him as well and her expression changed to one of understanding and her hands went up to her hair.

Her now short, badly cut hair.

She looked sad for moment but then sighed and shrugged.

"If that is the only mark on me, I guess I can live with it," she said and looked at Carlisle meaningfully.

Carlisle looked at her and then at me with a half smile. He looked tired which I could understand only all too well.

"No, you don't. Bella on the other hand..." he let his voice trail off.

I frowned at him, not knowing what he was talking about.

I thought back and tried to remember if there had been anything to cause any kind of marks on my body.

Then I remembered the moment, when Chris had distracted Victoria and I had attempted to somehow rescue Dylan, who was more or less unconscious on the floor.

Despite the fact that Chris had burned James' wand to ashes, he still managed to defeat himself.

He'd had this strange knife attached to his leg- just like Victoria- which seemed to have some kind of magical power on it's own. I wasn't sure about that.

I was fairly sure though that I dodged his tries to injure me and wrapped the water bubble around his head before he could have done any serious damage. But then again it had been a pretty intense situation and my physical pain had been the last thing that I had been worried about.

Just then the door opened and Esme stepped in with Rose trailing behind her.

Only now I truly noticed that they hadn't been in the room with us.

"Their parents are currently talking to the nurse upstairs. Rose wanted to see-"

Esme was cut short when Rose shot forward and pulled me into a tight hug. Then she quickly hugged Edward, Dylan and Chris as well.

All I could do was stare at her in surprise, especially when I noticed her red- rimmed eyes and the occasional sniff.

She didn't look as confident as she usually did.

"I don't care what Alice says, next time you will just all stay locked in a room," she chocked out before she went over to Emmett and let him pull her unto his lap.

I looked at Alice, who wore the same exhausted expression as everyone did and also seemed to be worried. When she caught my gaze, she attempted to smile but the usual brightness of her smile was missing.

"I'm not really expecting there to be a next time," Chris mumbled, "How many times do you think that Aro can pull that one?"

"Aro?" Esme asked in wonder, probably voicing the thoughts of everyone apart from Ms. Carmina and Laurent. "Aro, as in Aro Volturi?"

Chris bit her lip and her eyes darted over to where our two rescuers stood. She didn't know whether or not she had been supposed to share this information.

I understood her confusion. With all the secrecy and half-truths there was just no way to know what was supposed to be said and what not.

"Yes, Mom. Our beloved principal is a psychopathic weirdo," Dylan sighed , wincing when Esme hugged him closely to her chest.

"Aro," Carlisle whispered thoughtfully. "I never... Where is he?"

He looked at Laurent when he asked this and got of his chair swiftly.

"He's gone," Laurent stated calmly, but I noticed his fist balling up.

"What?" Carlisle exclaimed abruptly, causing everyone to jump, "What do you mean he's gone? Alicia said she would be taking care of this, so why is the IDM just letting him go? Is it not considered a crime what he's done to my sons? Have you seen the deep cut on Bella's waist? The scar is going to be permanent, thanks to some kind of curse."

My hands slowly inspected the right side of my waist. I hadn't noticed that it was patched up, mainly cause I couldn't see it.

It didn't hurt, thankfully.

"I already informed my superiors about the situation. Of course, we are not letting Aro get away just like that... he does have some explaining to do after all. But he fled and we don't know where he is. Until we know for sure, there is nothing the IDM can do except look for him," Ms. Carmina told Carlisle in a calm voice.

Carlisle didn't seem to be listening to her. Instead he was pacing around the room muttering something under his breath that sounded like he was pondering on something.

I I leaned back on Edward's bed and slowly let my eyes drift closed.

If this was already this exhausting to me, I didn't want to know what I felt like once I knew what this whole thing was about.

I drifted off hearing the voices of the others every now and then until I fell into a complete dreamless slumber.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You're an idiot, Laurent," I heard a voice say.

My eyes popped open and I sat up in my bed. At the end of my bed sat someone that I didn't know and had my foot in his lap.

I abruptly pulled my leg away from him and looked around the room, confused and startled.

Laurent was sitting in the corner on a chair with his arms and his legs crossed and a not-so-happy expression on his face.

He turned his head into my direction and his scowl somewhat disappeared from his face.

"Good morning, Isabella," he greeted me calmly.

My eyes flitted back and forth between him and the young man on my bed.

He seemed to be something around twenty, I couldn't really tell.

His skin had a beautiful russet tone and he had long silky black hair that he wore in a ponytail.

"I'm sure that this is a little confusing to you," Laurent spoke. "The weird-looking guy on your bed, invading your personal space like that is Jacob Black."

"Umm... hello?" I said to the guy on my bed, who was scowling now at Laurent.

He then turned toward me and smiled so brightly at me that I had to blink a few times. Was it normal for someone to have teeth that white?

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Isabella. I can't believe that I actually got this lucky so early," he said quickly and grabbed my foot again, placing it in his lap.

"Er.. Mr. Black-" I started.

"Call me Jacob, I'm not that much older than you," he interrupted.

"Okay then, Jacob. What are you doing with my foot?"

He furrowed his brows, probably confused as to why my voice slightly rose and then locked back at my foot in his lap.

Then he suddenly seemed to understand something and quickly pushed my leg away and got off my bed, mumbling millions of apologies.

"I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to do my job and got kinda carried away. Oh god, I'm so sorry..." he kept on rambling until a sudden growl cut him off.

I looked over to Chris' bed and saw her scrunching up her face in anger.

"Who does this senseless rambling belong to?" she hissed and slowly sat up in her bed, looking pissed.

"Umm.. that would be me. Jacob," Jacob replied a little timidly.

Chris stared at him than briefly looked at Laurent before she continued staring at Jacob.

"And what the hell are you doing in here, disturbing my much needed sleep with idiotic mumbling?"

"I'm sorry, I just..."

Laurent had gotten up and put a hand on Jacob's shoulder to silence him.

"Chris, maybe you shouldn't be so rude to your savior," he stated.

"My what?" she asked sceptically.

"If I remember correctly, it was you and Ms. Carmina who had saved us," I interfered.

"Yes, but that was not what I meant. Jacob here has remarkable skills when it comes to animal spirits."

"So?" Chris asked, waving her hand impatiently.

"So he is able to do remarkable things, like projecting his animal spirit into the astral plane to save two damsels in distress," Laurent told her and sent Chris a stern look.

"I'm afraid, I'm not following you," Chris admitted, knitting her eyebrows together.

"I'm the wolf," Jacob explained bluntly.

The wolf?

Ah, the wolf.

"The animal spirit that you had encountered on the astral plane," I said to Chris.

"You mean the wolf that had been about to eat me and Alice?"

"I wasn't about to eat you," Jacob argued.

"Right, you were just trying to take a bite."

"I had been looking for you, because Laurent was worried that you were stuck."

"Yeah, yeah," Chris waved him off. "That doesn't explain why you are here now, disturbing my peaceful state of sleeping."

Jacob turned to Laurent with an exasperated expression on his face but only got a shake of the head as an answer.

It was definitely pointless to argue with Chris in that moment.

Jacob sighed and then got back on my bed to grab my foot once more. I really started to wonder what exactly it was that always made him grab my foot.

"I hope you are not trying to live out your foot fetish with my little sister," Chris grumbled and sunk back into her pillows.

Jacob chuckled. "No, I'm not a fan of feet actually. I'm just trying to get my work done.

"And what does my foot have to do with that?" I asked him.

"Nothing really, it's your ankle that I am interested in," he replied and ran his fingers gently over my ankle. It tickled a bit and caused me to shiver.

"Ticklish?"

I nodded.

"Sorry." He grinned and drew out a wand.

I quickly moved into a cross-legged position and stared at Jacob with wide eyes.

"What exactly do you intend to do? My ankle is fine just in case you wanted to heal it."

"Actually, I'm trying to break the seal that is located on your ankle. Now give me back your foot."

Chris snorted in the background, while I did as he asked.

"How can there be a seal on my ankle? Laurent placed it on my back," I asked curiously and my eyes darted quickly over to where Laurent sat with crossed arms once more.

Jacob let out a husky laugh.

"Laurent, always thinks he's an expert on seals but in reality he's pretty wacky when it comes to that."

Laurent scowled at Jacob now.

"What makes you say that?"

Jacob looked at me with a grin on his face.

"Apart from the fact that I am indeed an expert when it comes to seals?" he turned his attention back to my foot and traced patterns with his wands on my ankle.

"Laurent told me how he had noticed a difference in the magical working of you and your sister. Your sister's magic is moving faster in her system then yours. He just discarded it, saying that her body was probably working on breaking the seal she already had on her, but of course if you think about it... it's more likely that you have a seal placed on you as well."

Jacob whispered a few words that I couldn't comprehend before he continued talking to me.

"If someone managed to place a seal on your sister in the past, the possibility that you have one on you as well is pretty high.

"Seeing the seal, I can tell you that it's pretty old and must have been made when you were little, which actually makes me wonder what exactly you did back then to get those seals..." Jacob's voice trailed off and he continued whatever he did on my ankle with a thoughtful expression

I frowned and turned to look at Chris who had sat up in her bed again.

"Mom and Dad are not magical," Chris stated, but there was doubt in her voice which was pretty clear to hear.

I bit my lip, deep in thought.

"All done," Jacob suddenly exclaimed happily and got up.

"Now turn around and lift your shirt, so I can free you from Laurent's bad work."

"What? No!", I exclaimed.

Jacob looked at me in confusion.

"There was a reason Laurent sealed my animal spirit. If Chris or I loose control it'll break through," I explained hastily.

An agreeing hum came from Laurent.

"I don't think that you should do anything else. We shouldn't let them carry the full load of their abilities without any training," he said to Jacob.

"But then HE will do it and I won't get a chance to impress with my skills again," Jacob protested.

I only lifted an eyebrow at him as well as Laurent and Chris.

"What? Do you know how rarely there is a seal for me to break?" he defended himself.

Chris decided to ignore that and asked something else instead,"Who exactly is 'he'?"

Laurent somewhat smiled at her.

"'He' is the one that will introduce himself to you and explain everything to you. He should be here already so it'll only be a matter of time."

"Is there anything that you actually can tell us?" Chris asked in annoyance.

I understood her feelings all too well.

I didn't know where to start and where to stop asking question and yet all we got were mysterious responses that didn't get us anywhere.

"Actually, there is," Laurent said in a pleasant voice," We can't grow your hair back because the knife that was used to cut it was cursed. Just like Bella's injury has to heal on it's own, your hair will have to grow back the traditional way."

I wondered if Laurent valued his life or if he was just so confident in his own abilities that he thought that he would get away with provoking Chris?

Chris glared at our teacher, who looked mildly amused .

I decided to interrupt their little moment.

"Okay, maybe you can answer this question: How did you manage to just disappear in front of our eyes last week? You know, when we all stumbled into your house and you just took off without even stepping out the door."

Jacob rolled his eyes as if he already knew the answer and didn't like it much.

Laurent just smiled at me.

"The same way, I am able to tell you that Mrs. Carmina will stumble in a few seconds and will deliver us some rather unfortunate news."

And as if on cue, the door opened and Ms. Carmina nearly fell into the room.

She steadied herself and set her eyes on Laurent, breathing heavily.

"He's not here anymore. He took Amun, Zafrina and Eleazar with him and is now attempting to track Aro down," she informed him.

"I know," Laurent replied with a sigh," I also know that he will not return for quite some time. I'm afraid we'll have to send the twins into their vacations without any explanations."

"Vacation? What vacation?" Chris asked immediately.

"Oh, I was just referring to the summer vacation. It's going to start soon and I'm afraid that there will be no answers for you until after this break."

"What? But that is not fair?" I protested," Why are you not just telling us what's going on?"

"Because it is not my place to do so and certain information is was not even given to me-2

"What, I thought you were a D-level guardian? Shouldn't you know just about everything then?" Jacob barged in.

"Shut up, wolfie," Ms. Carmina hissed and yanked him out of the room.

"So you do know exactly what is going on?" I asked Laurent and narrowed my eyes at him.

"I know a few things, but I promised to let him do it himself. It means a to to him," Laurent replied quietly.

"You won't tell us who _'he' _is, will you?"

"No, but you will know when you meet him. I sure of that."

I let out a frustrated groan and let myself fall into my pillows.

I heard Chris muttering something that didn't sound too nice and for once, I wished I could hear her only so that I could agree with every word she said.

"Don't be upset. It's probably for the best. That way you'll have a clear head for your finals. You should just concentrate on getting better for now and doing your school work. Everything else will be taken care of later, alright?"

Neither of us answered so Laurent spoke up once more.

"Maybe you should also get a proper haircut, Christabel," he noted.

The pillow that flew through the air, didn't hit him, because he suddenly vanished again causing Chris pillow to just fall on the floor.

"He's such a..."

She cussed under her breath for several minutes, while I just let my concentrated on falling back asleep. There wasn't really anything else I could do.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The door to my bedroom opened abruptly and none other than Chris stormed into the room, interrupting me and Edward in our study session.

"That is what you call studying?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"The book fell down," I answered defensively and pointed at the book that was lying on the floor.

"That totally doesn't explain why you are sitting on Edward's lap and have been licking his face until a few seconds ago."

Edward snickered quietly to himself until I shot a dark look at him

Then I returned my attention to my sister.

"What do you want anyway? Weren't you supposed to get a proper haircut?"

Chris was wearing a sunhat on her head, her hair hidden beneath it.

I didn't even know how she managed to make that look not as ridiculous as it should but I didn't want to know either.

Ever since we had gotten out of the hospital five days ago, she had been wearing either some kind of head or she knotted her hair into a knot to prevent the world from seeing her badly cut hair.

Edward was feeling bad about the whole thing, despite the fact that Chris hadn't even addressed the matter once.

He once attempted to apologize to her, but she just turned and left waving him off and telling him to save his breath.

Since then Edward hadn't tried to apologize again, but I saw his gaze drop every time the matter of Chris' hair was addressed. Which was a lot.

Alice insisted on taking Chris to the hairdresser and was awfully pushy about it more so than usual. Chris was being more stubborn than ever, while Dylan tried to reason with both of them.

At first I was a little confused as to why he would get himself involved into this discussion until Edward reminded me that Dylan had a secret obsession with Chris' hair, so this was hard on him as well.

Meanwhile, Rose had been in the hospital almost every minute of her free time. Jasper was still not any better and the whole family was now more or less living in the hospital.

I wondered if Alice took her frustration about not being allowed to see Jasper or even go up and talk to the doctor out on Chris and her hair issue

It would definitely explain the sometimes vicious edge in her voice.

It was really hard for Alice to be separated from Jasper like that and even though Rose kept her updated through text messages, she was still complaining about the hospital staff. The reason why she wasn't allowed to go with Rose was because she wasn't part of the family and not even Carlisle could get Alice the special treatment that she expected to get.

In fact Carlisle had given the instructions not to let Alice in, no matter what.

Alice was of course royally pissed at her father and actually refused to talk to him.

Esme had explained to the rest of us then in a quiet moment that Carlisle had to make this decision to help Jasper get better. Apparently Carlisle had also tried to keep the Hales away from Jasper, but Ms. Hale was not really cooperating in that particular department.

Since, none of the methods Carlisle had tried to get Jasper accustomed to his new ability, he had decided today to let Laurent try.

What exactly Laurent intended to do was unknown to me, but I hoped that it would be helpful for Jasper.

So while Alice was anxiously waiting to hear from her better-half she decided to take Chris to the hairdresser whether she like to go or not.

So while Alice was anxiously waiting to hear from her better-half she decided to take Chris to the hairdresser whether she like to go or not.

Chris reluctantly agreed after various days of people staring at her and some even asking if something was wrong with her.

It seemed that the loss of her hair had made Chris unable of being as confident as she usually was and resulted in her dressing a bit differently

and apparently people noticed.

Well, that's what you get after being a popular part of a display on the fair. I had it worse than Chris though, because people now greeted me and talked to me and even complimented me.

It seemed like the whole school was suddenly hyper-aware of my presence and there was even a group of girls that glared at me every morning when I got into the school building.

It had only been a few days, but I still found it very discomforting.

Anyway, Chris had been supposed to go the hairdresser and now she was standing in my room.

"Well... I told you not to leave that little monster unsupervised. You could have been nice siblings and just tagged along for the sake of my hair," Chris shrieked.

"And I told you that I have to study, because our exams are next week," I replied calmly.

"You aren't even studying."

I rolled my eyes and moved from Edward's lap.

"Instead of making out you should get a cage for that evil pixie," Chris continued.

"Chris, don't you want to show us what went happened?" Edward asked just when Dylan entered my room.

"I can't tell you, I can only show you and I can't show you my hair either," Chris replied when she took notice of Dylan.

"What?" I asked in confusion

"I would show you, but Dylan is here now," she explained.

"What? Am I not allowed to be here?" he asked.

"You are not allowed to see my hair."

"Alright, I'll close my eyes."

Dylan squeezed his eyes shut and Chris tested first if he was truly not looking before she took the hat off.

I frowned in confusion.

Her hair was a bit shorter now but it looked a lot neater. Her hair was now shoulder-length and was cut in layers, which actually looked quite good on Chris.

A single strand was falling into her face and Chris blew it away in annoyance.

"I don't get your problem;" Edward admitted, voicing my thoughts.

"Don't you see it?" Chris asked.

"There is a little red on the tips," Dylan noted.

Chris whirled around to glare at him.

I noticed then that he was right and there was a little red at the tips of Chris' hair, which looked fine to me.

"You weren't supposed to look," she whined now.

"Why not? It looks pretty."

"No, it doesn't."

"It looks fine Chris, really," I reassured her.

"Ugh what do you know anyway?" Chris asked and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"It's read. Freaking red. How am I supposed to live with that?"

"If you don't like it just dye black over it," Edward said dryly.

Chris just stared at him before she stomped out of my room and shut the door to her bedroom loudly.

"Sounds like almost everything is back to normal," Dylan muttered and then left my room as well.

Processing his words quickly I shook my head to myself.

With the dreams that I was having lately, I could definitely say that nothing was back to normal. Nothing at all.

* * *

_**A/N:**_**I'm not sure if you have guessed it on your own, but this is it actually. The chapter before the last :) I've been waiting so long to finish this part and I can't believe that it took me a year to write all this :O**

**I really have to thank you all for sticking with me like this.**

**Please, please, please, pleeeeease review and I'll promise to reply.**


	24. Abrupt Ending

**_A/N:_****Merry Christmas, everyone! I actually intended to upload a couple of days earlier, but all the Christmas-madness kept me from uploading.**

**Now I've finally finished the chapter and was so impatient that I had upload the chapter as soon as possible. Which means that it's not betaed. So I apologize for any weird mistakes that might appear.**

**Go on and read, I'll be rambling more at the bottom.**

* * *

Bella Pov

"You have three more minutes," Ms. Sanders announced, while she strolled around the classroom looking at the work of some students.

I hastily looked into my potions book, while stirring the mass in the little kettle in front of me.

_At last, add three drops of gnome saliva and stir the potion counter-clockwise until your potion turns dark purple._

_After that, you let it rest for three hours._

_Completed is your plant-revival potion!_

I followed the instructions and smiled in satisfaction when the liquid in my kettle took on a beautiful dark purple color.

I carefully filled the potion into a little jar and then started to clean up my working space.

"Alright, time's up," Ms. Sanders announced, earning a few groans from my fellow classmates, "Fill your potions into the jars and start cleaning up."

She stood now at the front of the class again, eying everyone carefully and once everyone had their potions filled into their jars, she made a motion with her wand that sent all the jars flying up to her desk where they settled down quietly.

"Class dismissed," she called out and I hastily put away my kettle before I walked out of the classroom.

I merely stepped out of the room when an arm suddenly landed on my shoulder.

I looked up and looked straight into the twinkling eyes of Emmett.

"How was your potion exam?" he asked me cheerfully. I wondered where his sudden cheerfulness came from.

"It went quite well, actually. The practical part more than the theoretical," I answered.

I thought back to the theoretical part of the exam and made a face. I was pretty sure that I had gotten some answers wrong.

"No need to worry about petty little things," Emmett said," I'm sure you aced it, knowing what kind of genius you are."

All that left my mouth was a sigh.

"What's with the attitude? You should be happy and rejoicing."

"And why is that? Exams are not really a reason for me to start dancing senselessly in the hallways of the school."

"That's not what I meant. Jasper's out of the hospital and you are not looking as if you were happy about these news," Emmett clarified, shaking his head at me.

"Jasper is out of the hospital?" I asked in disbelief.

"That's what I just said."

I punched Emmett on his arm.

"Why didn't you say so right away?"

"I thought that you already knew." Emmett pouted while he rubbed the spot where I had hit him.

I rolled my eyes at him and took him by his arm to get him to move a bit faster.

"Jasper!" I exclaimed as soon as I burst into his room.

It took me a second to realize that everyone else was already there. Rose and Alice were both sitting beside him on his bed, looking at me disapprovingly.

"Don't be so loud, Bella!" Rose scolded,"Jasper's still not feeling too well."

Jasper shook his head slightly at his sister but didn't say anything. He just sunk back into his pillows.

"Sorry," I apologized quickly, before I crossed the room and knelt down beside Jasper's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Jasper closed his eyes briefly before he answered,"I'm alright. My headache is not gone yet and I still feel overwhelmed but other than that I'm okay."

He rubbed his temples and gave me a reassuring look.

I looked down at my hands.

"I'm really sorry, Jasper," I whispered, hoping that no one apart from him could hear me.

"What the hell are you sorry for?" Rose demanded, looking sharply at me. Apparently I hadn't been quiet enough.

Not looking back at her, I mumbled, "Nothing."

"Bella, you better not be apologizing for causing this situation for Jasper," Alice interfered,"Because there is nothing for you to apologize for."

My gaze met Chris' who looked down a few seconds later, not saying anything to me.

The guilt that she felt for causing Jasper this pain was quite similar to mine.

"The two of you shouldn't blame yourselves," Edward said, earning agreeing hums from Alice and Rose. "You can't control things like that- it was bound to happen anyway..."

I stopped listening to Edward- not because what he was saying was not interesting but because Jasper spoke quietly now as well, so quiet that the others couldn't hear him.

"You know, I had been feeling off for a little while before. It wasn't anything major so I didn't say anything and just discarded it. You and Chris haven't done anything, so you shouldn't feel bad. I had just been trying to keep up with your emotions and tried to help both of you that I unwillingly had to open myself up to everything else. And that threw me totally of balance. I can't even begin to explain to you how truly unsettling it is to have millions of emotions running through you and affecting you."

Jasper shuddered slightly before he put his hand on my shoulder and spoke a bit louder so the others now noted that he was talking.

"What I'm basically saying is, that it really wasn't your fault."

I looked straight at Chris, who's expression showed that she had been listening to Jasper's words. Meanwhile, the rest of the group tried to find out Jasper had just said, but he was too tired to recount it all or maybe he was just pretending.

"Hey Jazz," Chris spoke up quietly in the general noise that was still going on. How Jasper was supposed to recover with this bunch of people around was a miracle.

Jasper opened one eye to look at Chris.

"How did you exactly did you recover?"

Now Jasper opened the other eye as well and sat up again.

"Mr. Decour helped me understand my gift," he explained.

"How did he do that?"

"At first, he was just analyzing my gift telling me what exactly I could do with it and how to work it, but that didn't really help me, because he kept telling me that I need to embrace all of those emotions that were just forcing their way into my head.

"So after a few attempts to talk me through it, he did something I'm not quite sure I understand. I remember that suddenly every feeling, emotion or mood that I had to endure was there in stereo.

It was truly head splitting can't remember much from that little time period, I might have passed out."

Alice sniffed and grabbed a hold of Jasper's hand.

"Anyway, after quite some time the force had lessened again and I was back to my earlier status. Except that between all this madness, there was an entirely new emotion in it.

It wasn't even an emotion- more like a state of being or something.

Like utter peacefulness but yet combined with every emotion the world had to offer.

I concentrated on that to figure out what that was about and then realized that it came from Mr. Decour.

"He told me that I only had to embrace all those emotions and had to let them in and not fight them.

He said that once I just let go it would be less painful. He instructed me to concentrate on him if it got too much for me and said that my goal should be to reach the same state of peacefulness that he had reached.

It must have taken me hours to finally get this mess in my head in some kind of order and when I did, Mr. Decour left me alone and the source of the peacefulness vanished.

"Since I didn't want to loose that feeling I worked really hard on controlling my gift and tried to embrace every feeling that I got instead of trying to keep it away and at some point it just clicked and I had this inner peace mixed with everything that is going on around me.

I can't really switch my power off anymore, it's now a constant thing."

Jasper finished his tale with a sigh.

"Oh Jazzy, I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that," Alice cried and threw herself on Jasper to hug him tightly.

"Alice, let him breath," Edward commented with a sigh.

Alice reluctantly let go of Jasper, who looked thankful for the first time ever to be released from Alice's grip. He must really not be feeling to well.

"Maybe we should all go and let Jasper rest," I proposed.

"But I don't wanna go," Alice pouted.

"You can stay and help me studying," Jasper told her, although he didn't really look like he was up for it. He sunk back into his pillows with his eyes already closing.

Alice noticed that of course as well, and smiled fondly at him.

"No, I should let you rest for now. But you just have to call my name in case you need something."

Jasper nodded weakly and our collected group moved out of his room.

"Alright, Rose and I are off to the library now," Chris announced as soon as we closed the door behind us.

"Why me?" Rose asked in protest.

"Didn't you read your schedule for this week, honey? You and I have to write our physics exam tomorrow," Chris explained, looking at her as if she had grown a second head.

"Oh, right."

"I'm coming with you guys," I threw in.

"You're not writing Physic tomorrow," Chris noted.

"No, but history and biology. And Edward is not gonna help me with those, right?"

I turned to Edward, already knowing the answer.

Edward smile apologetically. "Sorry, I have to practice for Magical Art and Specialized Magic."

"Oh no," Alice exclaimed," I have my Specialized Magic exam tomorrow as well."

"Well, let's go and study then," Emmett called out.

Everyone agreed and we all hurried to get going.

The next day started with an unexpected surprise.

I was already sitting at the breakfast table, when Chris ran through the Cafeteria, attracting quite a few weird glances.

"Look at this," she panted once she was at the table.

She threw a paper on the table and worked on catching her breath.

I picked up the paper and read through it.

_Dear students,_

_we- the IDM- have made some decisions in regard of your stay at the Academy for the remainder of the school year._

_A series of unfortunate events have led the us to the conclusion that the Academy is currently not a safe place for you- the students. To prevent any unwanted accidents or mishappenings it has been decided to end the school year early and close the Academy for a short amount of time._

_We wish for all of you to be present at the assembly at 3PM, today. Until then you will have regular classes as it has been scheduled for the day._

I stared at the paper for a moment.

"Where did you get this?" I asked Chris.

"It was on my door. You had one too, you probably were just up too early to notice it."

I looked around and saw the cafeteria slowly filling with people that all seemed to be worked up.

I let out a sigh and pushed away my plate.

"Is there a single day in this school where there is nothing happening?" I asked, shaking my head slightly.

"Then it wouldn't be a Freak school anymore," Chris replied dryly.

I let out another sigh and turned to look out the window. It really shouldn't have surprised me to see Alice stomping towards our house.

"I guess, breakfast is over," I mumbled, not turning to look back at Chris.

Chris grumbled something in response, but I didn't get to hear it.

Both of us slowly rose from our chairs when a screeching voice rang in the ears of every single person in the cafeteria.

"Can you believe it?"

Alice was waltzing right toward us, looking so angry that it seemed like there was steam coming out of her ears.

She too was waving one of those papers around and looked like she was ready to stab someone with it. If that were possible and somehow I had a feeling that Alice would be capable of stabbing someone with a piece of paper.

She let herself drop on a chair at our table, causing Chris and I to look at each other before we both shrugged and sat back down.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I asked calmly, knowing that she just waited for someone to ask her that.

"My family is keeping things from me, that's what's wrong," huffed in response.

"What is that supposed to mean?" both Chris and I asked her.

She looked at the two of us, before she took a deep breath and spoke, "Well, it all starts with the fact that my father was apparently named the new principal of this school by the IDM. Or more accurately by Ms. Hale. That was the first thing that they didn't tell me about..."

"When did that happen?" Chris wondered.

"About the same day when the IDM decided that Aro should no longer do this job."

"Meaning?"

Alice sighed in exasperation. "On Saturday. One day after you all returned semi-alive to the hospital."

"Alright, but I don't really see the problem," I admitted.

"The problem is that nobody told me," Alice complained.

"Well, when the decision was only made three days ago, then I can't really blame your parents for not telling you yet. They were probably planning on it."

"I'm not even done yet," Alice snapped, shaking her head fiercely. "Not only is the IDM now taking the matter s of the school into their hands but also some other people that I don't know what they belong to. They are not from the IDM but some of them are and they are kinda in conflict with them right now because both parties are trying to manage the school now. I think those others call themselves 'the guardians' or something. I don't even know what they guard."

"Guardians?" I repeated slowly.

"Laurent is a guardian," Chris stated.

Both Alice and I looked at her.

"What?"

"How do you know?"

"That's what this Jacob kid said, remember? Something about a D-rank guardian or whatever. He's probably a guardian as well."

I thought back and nodded slowly in agreement. "Then Ms. Carmina is a guardian as well," I concluded.

"Probably."

"And what do they guard?" Alice threw in, impatiently.

"No idea."

"Okay, whatever. My point was actually, that my father decided to close the school early this year because of the differences between the IDM and the Guardians."

Alice let out an angry screech, causing several people to jump.

"Calm down, Al," Chris tried to sooth her but looked helplessly at me.

"Alice, what exactly is your problem in all this. Are you sad because school is ending a bit earlier than planned?" I asked her with furrowed eyebrows, since I was busily trying to find out what could set her off like that.

"My problem is that all this stuff happens without people telling me about it. Edward knew it and didn't even bother to tell me until I burst into his room earlier. Dylan also already new, because Edward told him. But nobody said anything to me."

"Edward knew about all of this?"

"Of course. Both Dylan and Edward were present when Ms. Hale burst into their room and offered Carlisle the job as the principal and the rest Edward knows thanks to his mind reading."

Both Chris and I stayed silent for a moment, unsure of what to say and processing these news.

"You know, I don't even care that they didn't tell me because I can figure the stuff out on my own, but they could have told me about all this before they made the decisions. Do you know what all of this means?"

Alice looked back and forth between me and Chris, her eyes looking a little crazy.

"Umm... no?" Chris admitted with a shrug.

"It means there is not going to be a prom," Alice shouted.

While everyone in the cafeteria shut their mouths to stare at Alice, I let out a groan and hit my hand against my forehead.

From all the things that this girl could worry about she chose the most unimportant of all. Who cares about that prom? I knew for a fact that I had actually already forgotten all about it.

"Bella?" Alice said quietly, sounding exhausted after her outburst.

"Yeah?"

"You're late for your exam."

"Wha-"

I hastily jumped up, grabbed my back and dashed out of the cafeteria.

Chris called something after me, but I didn't hear what it was.

I all but flew out of the house and raced in the direction of the school.

First I had worry about passing my exams before I thought about the school closing early and I definitely shouldn't even dare to think about Alice's prom drama.

I rolled my eyes at the silly little pixie, while I ran down the street.

Chris Pov

"Good luck, Bella," I called after my sister, who was already on the other side of the room.

I wasn't even sure if she had heard me.

Listening to Alice's mumbling about prom dresses with one ear and using the rest of my conversation to quickly scan the pages in my notebook again.

After a few minutes the distinct beeping of my phone reminded me that I had to get going.

"Alice, are you coming too or do you prefer to sit here alone?" I asked the sulking pixie lightly.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked, sounding a bit puzzled. I probably pulled her out of her tiny little world where everything was pink and glittery.

"Have to go and fail Physics," I replied curtly and swung my bag over my shoulder.

"As if that is going to happen," Alice scoffed and got up as well.

"It is possible, you know."

Alice merely waved me off and launched herself into another one of her speeches. This time about matching ties and dresses.

When we walked out of the house we all but ran into Rose, Edward and Dylan.

"Oh good, I was already afraid that you'd overslept," Rose said dryly.

"And miss the chance to write awesome equations that I would never need if it weren't for school?"

Rose rolled her eyes at me just when I noticed the missing persons in the group.

"Where are Jasper and Emmett?" I asked no one in particular.

"Jasper, still has to stay in bed," Alice answered immediately.

"He'll write the exams at the beginning of the new school year. Or maybe not. Depending on whether or not there is even going to be one."

She threw an accusing glare in Edward's direction, who just looked back at her with no expression on his face.

"Emmett had to take off a bit earlier for his exam," Rose informed me calmly .

I sighed at the thought of the next day.

"I honestly don't like these schedules. Tomorrow I have to wake up way too early for my liking just for my Specialized Magic exam."

"Well, you can always sleep with me. I'd make sure that you get up on time," Dylan said, suddenly very close to my ear.

I shoved him lightly before I hooked my arm through his. "Right, I'd probably end up missing the exam altogether, which is not in my best interest."

"So little faith in me." Dylan shook his head in mock sadness.

"I don't even think that you have to get up early tomorrow," Edward commented in a thoughtful tone.

"What are you keeping from me this time?"Alice demanded.

"Nothing, why should I keep anything from you?" Edward asked back in confusion, looking helplessly at Dylan.

"You didn't tell me that Daddy ruined my Prom dressing up session for Rose and Bella."

I instantly tuned the two of them out, not wanting to listen to Alice's rant about prom again.

Nobody except for her seemed to care about it.

"How you managed to live with her for several years is beyond me," I whispered to Dylan.

"Trust me, sometimes I wonder about it myself," he replied quietly.

"I can hear you guys, you know," Alice called, turning around to throw a menacing glare at us.

"Well, that's my cue to go," I said, relieved when the school was in front of us. "See you guys later."

I jogged toward the school to get away from Alice. The sound of steps behind me caused me to turn and I saw Rose, trying to catch up with me.

"What? You're not the only one who wanted to get away from that little pixie."

I only chuckled at that and shook my head.

We both entered the school building and quickly made our way through the corridors.

"Man, I can't believe that I'm actually looking forward to the exam," I mumbled. Anything was better than listening to another speech about prom dresses, the right mascara and underwear that matched the dress and the tie of your date. Why in the world would the underwear have to match?

I pushed these thoughts aside as soon as Rose and I entered the classroom where a few of our fellow students already waited.

Looking around, we both decided to take a seat at the far back, got settled and went over our notes again before the teacher entered.

Let the games begin.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I let out a deep breath when I stepped out of the school. Two exams in one day were exhausting and I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the next day on which I was scheduled to write three. Sure, the English exam today hadn't even been worth mentioning since I'm good at that but it was strangely tiring to sit still the whole time and concentrate.

I looked up in the sky, letting the sun warm my face.

"What's cooking, good looking?"

The sudden disturbance in my peacefulness made me look back down.

The voice had sounded too familiar and I wasn't surprised to see Jensen standing in front of me.

I only quirked an eyebrow at him, not sure what he wanted from me. He usually hadn't even greeted me when we met on campus outside of the 'classy meetings' so I didn't really get why he started now.

"You could just be polite and reply, you know," Jensen added when I didn't say a word.

I only shrugged in answer and strolled passed him.

He quickly turned and matched his stride to mine.

"Alright, don't talk. But I'm not sure how else you should be able to explain to me that you did not except my offer to go to the party with you. If I remember correctly you didn't go to the party at all, which I find strange by the way, and I briefly wondered if it was because no one asked you to go. The I suddenly remembered that I did ask you and you never gave me a reply, which resulted in me going with Janan which I personally didn't find nearly as entertaining as it would have been when you would have been my date."

"I was busy," was my short answer to that. What else was I supposed to say?

"Busy, huh?" Jensen replied with a mischievous expression on his face. "It couldn't ave had anything to do with Dylan Cullen, right?"

I halted in my movements and stared at Jensen with wide eyes. He just stood there with a pleased expression, which now caused me to narrow my eyes at him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked carefully.

"Nothing really," he replied slowly," There is just that rumor going around that you are pregnant and Dylan is the baby's dad, which I personally find pretty ridiculous. The other rumor is that your sister is pregnant and that it's not clear whether Edward or Dylan is the father."

"What?" I screeched, already getting ready to stomp on whoever was responsible for this.

"Oh wait, you haven't hear my personal favorite yet. You hooked up with Hale and got caught by his girlfriend. She goes and calls her brother who both beat the crap out of Hale. He goes to the hospital and his sister is so mad at the Cullens that she sends her boyfriend to deal with Dylan and Edward. Both of them go to the hospital as well right before you and your sister get send there after Alice some pretty nasty curses on the two of you."

I gaped at him for a moment, unsure of what I was supposed to say to all of this. After a moment of silent, though I found my voice again.

"Why in the world are these stupid rumors going around and why am I the one who should have been hooking up with Jasper?"

"Well, first of all. You're the only single one in this group-"

"Not true. Dylan-"

"He's with Heidi, you know that right?"

"No, he is not. They broke it off a while ago."

"Oh really? Huh."

Jensen seemed to be absorbing this new information and I wondered since when he had been such a sucker for gossip. "Ah well, anyway the reason those rumors are flying around is the fact that your sister and you, the Cullen boys and that Hale kid spent some time in the hospital starting Friday night. Some of the med- majors are helping out at the hospital, so this stuff goes public pretty quickly."

"Why does the whole school care when someone gets send to the hospital?"

"Oh, they don't. But the girls in this school always care about the stuff that happens to the Cullens and therefore also their friends. Not too mention that you and your sister have gotten even more recognition on campus since the fair. Lots of people knew you existed and all, but now everyone has faces to the names, which makes you more interesting seeing that you're both smo-"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," I cut him off, not even wanting to hear that. I resumed my walk back to the house, not really wanting to continue that conversation.

"Hey Chris, aren't you going to tell me what happened?" Jensen asked, suddenly beside me again.

"Not really."

"Oh come on. I thought we're friends?"

One look in his direction was already enough to make me want to shove him into the next bush.

"We're not friends. I don't recall us ever being anything of the sort."

"You're right," Jensen admitted and then looked at me from below his lashes. "We're actually something more than friends, right?"

He put his arm around my waist and sent me a lazy smile.

"Tell you what, you tell me what happened on Friday night and I give you one hour of my time for a hot and steamy make out session."

Wow, that guy was too cocky for his own good. Every thought of him being hot that ever entered my mind was replaced by a sudden feeling of disgust as I tried wriggle out of his grasp.

"I think I have a better deal. You let go of me and I won't turn you into a pile of ashes."

"You forget that I am a Pyro myself," Jensen purred.

"_You _forget that I am way better than you are."

"Wanna test it out?"

"Hey, Chris," a voice then suddenly called. Both Jensen and I looked up to see Edward walking toward us. Jensen's grip on my didn't loosen the least bit when Edward came to halt in front of us and eyed us both curiously before he narrowed his eyes at Jensen's arm on my waist.

"Where are you two going? The assembly is about to start," Edward asked.

While his question sounded perfectly normal, his gaze was saying something completely different.

He looked mostly at me and it held a mixture of confusion, wonder and anger.

"Chris and I just wanted to have some fun before we head to the assembly. Isn't that right?"

Both boys looked at me expectantly.

A grimace spread on my face and I continued my attempt to free myself from Jensen.

"Yep, that's right. Breaking Jensen's bones until he can't move toward me again definitely sounds like fun. Don't you think, Edward?"

With my eyes I tried to make him grasp that I needed his help to get as far away as possible from that creep.

Luckily, Edward was the smart one in our pack and he immediately understood. "Sure, let me just get Emmett real quick I bet he wants to join in on the fun."

And just like that the hand on my waist vanished.

"I guess, I should get to that assembly quickly. Don't wanna miss anything important," Jensen mumbled quickly before he turned swiftly and walked away.

Letting out a deep breath, I clapped Edward on his back.

"Thanks for the help. I'm not sure if I would have gotten away with ashing his sorry ass."

"No problem. Although, you kind of had me confused for a moment."

"Hmm? Why?"

"You and that creep looked so cozy that I just wondered about..." he let his voice trail off.

"About what?"

"You and Dylan." He ran a hand through his hair and his eyes flitted over to the school. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was waiting for Bella.

"Dylan and I?" I repeated slowly.

"The two of you are together now, are you not?"

Just then Bella walked out of the school, her eyes searching until she found Edward.

She skipped over to where we stood, completely ignored me and falling into Edward's arms to place a kiss on his nose. I didn't even try to comprehend that and instead focused my thoughts on my own Cullen topic. It definitely seemed like Dylan and I were together now, but I wasn't really sure about it. He had made me play his girlfriend for the day and made it sound to other like that was a permanent thing, but the two of us never really spoke about it. I sighed at the thought. Why couldn't life just be easy for me?

"Oh, Chris," Bella's voice suddenly said, probably because she just noticed me," I didn't know that you wanted to accompany Edward and me."

"I didn't," I replied dryly, still kind of lost in thought. "Your boyfriend just happened to rescue me on his way to get to you."

Whatever was being said after that went unnoticed by me, because my mind was just too occupied with the question whether or not Dylan and I were together.

When we reached our destination though, I discarded the thought deciding that I had more important things to occupy my thoughts with.

"There they are," Bella exclaimed and pointed to the front, where I could see Emmett's huge frame.

We all moved to get to the front, trying to bump into as little people as possible, which was a quite difficult task considering that everyone was just moving around like crazy chickens.

We finally made it to the front though and Bella had to drag Edward along, who was busily shooting death glares at a guy who's hand had accidentally made contact with Bella's butt.

Normally, I would have joined in on this glaring session, but I didn't really feel up to it. Besides, it wasn't really my job to keep creepy guys away from Bella- especially not after I had to be rescued by Edward.

I noticed the rest of the group sitting around Emmett as well and even Jasper had made an appearance, although he looked highly uncomfortable. I reckoned that the only thing that kept him from dashing out of this place was Alice, who held his hand in hers and spoke quietly to him. By the sounds of it, she was motivating him and told him how much faith she had in him.

Rose glanced passed Emmett every now and then to cast a worried look at her brother, while Dylan was writing notes with someone again.

The little piece of paper appeared and disappeared from his hand continually and I had to wonder with whom he was exchanging these notes.

I decided to sit down beside him and tried to peak at the paper in his hand, but it disappeared again after he had tapped his wand quickly on it.

He then looked up at me and smiled. "Hey Christa."

"Don't call me that," I complained, although only halfheartedly.

"Why not? Christa sounds a lot more feminine than Chris."

"I don't care. I don't like Christa. Chris suits me just fine."

Dylan only shook his head lightly until the little note reappeared in his hands.

I quickly snatched it out of his hands, ignoring his protest and scanned the little piece of paper.

_Are you sure that you don't wanna hang out and have some fun with me?_

I opened my mouth to ask Dylan what exactly that was supposed to mean, when someone cleared his throat loud enough for the whole room to hear. I turned my attention to the stage and Dylan used that moment to take his note back.

I didn't say anything about that and watched the tall man in front of us instead. He looked like he was in his late forties and I was pretty sure that I had never seen him before.

The seating arrangement from the last assembly was not the same, the teachers all sat there on regular chairs at the back of the stage, looking a bit concerned.

"For all those of you, who don't know who I am- I am Robert Jason, the head of the security department. My job is to keep all of you safe, especially the younger students who are not capable of defending themselves."

A few disagreeing murmurs went through the room, which made the guy roll his eyes.

"I know, I know... you are not all totally defenseless but that is hardly the point here. Due to some recent events- one of them being the death of Alistair Merchant- the IDM came to the decision that the school needs to be closed down for a short amount of time before it's ready to accommodate Students again and serve as a safe place for all of you."

Again the room filled with murmurs only louder this time. I turned to Dylan, who was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Hey, when the school is going to be closed down, where exactly will you and your family go?"

His head whipped around and he gave me a look that told me that he hadn't even thought about that.

Mr: Jason's eyes darted around the room and annoyance was now clearly written in his face. He was definitely not one of the people that could deal well with children- especially not a huge crowd of children. He cleared his throat once more, effectively silencing the room again.

"In two days we will start sending the first students home. We will inform each student when it is time for his or her departure and we expect all of you to be ready by then."

I whipped my head around to look at Bella.

"How do we explain that to Mom and Dad?" I asked her.

She bit her lip thoughtfully, but didn't get to answer the question because Mr. Jason continued speaking.

"We will take care of the organization and of course, we will inform each of your parents. All you have to do now is pack your things and be ready for your departure. This means, of course, that there will be no more classes or exams until the next school year."

This time the murmurs where much more joyful, which didn't surprise me in the least. Everyone likes to get out of exams.

"Furthermore, I'd like to inform you that Carlisle Cullen is the new principal of the Academy. I hope that all of you are making this easy for him, because we all know what a busy man he is. Alright now, you are all dismissed so start packing your suitcases."

"What an abrupt way to end a school year," Bella mumbled. I got up from my chair and stretched.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not even sure if I should be happy or sad," I replied.

"You should be sad," Alice chirped in and hooked her arm through mine. "It leaves you less time with me."

"I guess, I'm happy to leave then."

Alice's lower lip started to tremble and she looked up at me with wide eyes. "Does that mean that you don't love me?"

"No, it means that I need a break from you and your craziness otherwise I might not be able to stand any more of it."

Alice let go of me and grabbed a hold of Jasper instead. "Psh, whatever. You will miss me soon enough anyway."

"She'll miss all of us," Emmett added and looked meaningfully at me.

I only stared back for a moment before I shrugged and then turned to get out.

Weaving through the other students, I made it out safely and waited in front of the door for the others. I didn't really have to wait long, since they used Emmett as their path-maker again.

"You can beg all you want, Alice, I won't let you pack my bag," Bella argued, not even looking at Alice while saying that.

"Why are you all being so ungrateful, today?" Alice asked in exasperation, although I really didn't see why she should be exasperated. After all, we were the ones that had to put up with her.

Bella and Alice continued their argument, occasionally pulling Rose in it as well, but thankfully leaving me out of it while we walked to the dormitories.

I trailed slowly behind the others and felt strangely excited to return home for a longer period of time. Although, it would probably be a little lonely without our crazy friends. I sincerely hoped that Bella hadn't caught that thought,because the last thing I wanted was Alice to think that I'd miss her. Next thing you know, she'll be standing at our porch insisting that she just came to free us from our misery. I sighed at the thought and decided that it might be a good thing that our friends weren't around for the summer.

"So what's on your mind, beautiful lady?" Dylan suddenly asked me, his arm snaking around my waist.

I hadn't even noticed that he'd been walking next to me.

"Just thinking about home," I replied.

We had reached the Blue House and just like always, everybody stepped in along with Bella and me. Sometimes I wondered if they didn't have own rooms to hang out in.

"Do you miss home?" Dylan asked me lightly.

"Of course, I do. Can't wait to get back into the normal world."

Dylan made a thoughtful sound and let go of me.

All of us barely made it to our floor, when I noticed to figures in the corridor.

"Are these Laurent and Delphine?" I asked Bella quietly, not sure if it were really those two, who were pacing around in front of our rooms.

"It looks like it," Bella replied.

Just then Laurent looked up and stopped his pacing.

"Ah, there you are," he stated and once again I had to notice his accent.

"Did something happen?" Alice asked in concern when we got closer to Laurent and Delphine.

"Wha- Oh, no. We're just here to help the twins with packing," Laurent explained.

"No offense, but I don't think that we need your help," Bella said carefully.

"Yes, you do. It'll be much faster when we help you. Everything has to be done fast for your departure tomorrow morning."

I froze mid-step. "Tomorrow morning? We're already leaving tomorrow morning?"

Laurent's face showed something close to regret. "Yes, the two of you are going to leave first thing in the morning."

"And Ren and I will be accompanying you," Delphine spoke up.

"Ren?" all of asked in confusion.

Laurent shook his head slightly, while Delphine started to smile brightly.

"That's my brother's nickname," she explained.

Then it clicked in my mind and I wondered why I hadn't come to the conclusion earlier.

"So Laurent is your brother? That's gotta be a tough life," I mumbled.

While Laurent gave me one of his disapproving looks, Delphine laughed whole-heartedly.

"I'm dealing with it, plus it gives me a few advantages sometimes," she replied.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy but would someone mind explaining why the girls need bodyguards to get them home? Or does every student get a teacher to accompany him or her?" Rose barged in, seemingly annoyed.

Laurent smiled sympathetically at her and then turned to enter Bella's room.

"Where is you suitcase?" he asked Bella as he pulled out his wand.

Bella instantly rushed to her bed and pulled out her two suitcases.

Laurent nodded and waved his wand around in fluent motions.

"You take care of Chris' room," he instructed, not looking at anyone whilst speaking but Delphine just pulled me along to get to my own room.

I pulled out my suitcases and a second later she started waving her wand around as well.

Sitting down on my couch, I watched when I saw all my belongings rising from their assigned places and floating through the air to settle themselves neatly in my suitcases.

Hopefully, I would be learning that soon because there was no way that I would continue to fold my clothes and such if there was an easier way.

"So Delphine," I said slowly, causing the girl to look at me briefly when I addressed her. "How come that you don't have an accent?"

Delphine furrowed her brows, looking like she was trying to figure out whether or not I was serious with my question. When she noticed that I was she answered," I do have the accent sometimes, but that's mostly when I have spoken French for a longer amount of time or particular words that I have trouble with."

I nodded my head slowly.

"Also, there is the fact that I had been living in America almost all my life. When our parents divorced Ren had stayed with my mother in France and I had gone to America with my father. We actually intended to switch but..."

She let her voice trail off and a sad expression placed itself on her beautiful face.

I had a feeling that asking her what exactly happened was not the smartest thing to do, so I came up with a quick change of topic.

"Hey, do you know what I have been wondering for a little while?" I asked her lightly.

Delphine, who had long stopped waving her wand dramatically in the air, looked up at me in question.

"Is Laurent dating Ms. Carmina?"

Delphine stared at me for a moment, seemingly speechless.

Then all of the sudden she burst into laughter.

The noise, of course, attracted the others and a moment later Dylan peaked into my room along with Alice and Emmett.

Dylan studied Delphine for a moment and somehow I had the strange feeling that he was checking her out.

"What are you staring at?" I snapped at him. His head turned to me and he looked at me with raised eyebrows, while Delphine was still laughing although she was starting to calm a little.

"Oh man, sorry about that," she wheezed out, wiping her eyes. Meanwhile I sat there with crossed arms, sending death glares in Dylan's direction. He'd just cocked his head to the side in confusion, looking back and forth between Delphine and me.

"What's the joke?" Emmett asked curiously, oblivious to anything beside Delphine's laughing fit.

Alice on the other hand suppressed a knowing grin and I considered for a brief moment to chuck a book at her head.

"Chris asked me if Ren was dating Ms. Carmina," Delphine clarified and started giggling again.

I turned my head into her direction again, still annoyed with Dylan and for some reason now displeased with her as well.

"As far as I know, Ren never dated anyone. He's a workaholic. All he does is work and when he doesn't work- well, then he'll find some work to do."

"That's not funny," Alice complained, "It's kinda sad and a waste of good looks but not funny."

"It was funny to me. Especially, when Ren came to me a few weeks ago and complained about Ms. Carmina and how she seems to have a crush on him. I find that hilarious."

"Ms. Carmina has a crush on Mr. Decour?" Emmett asked with wide eyes. I didn't really understand why everyone in this school was such a sucker for gossip.

Delphine shrugged. "Who knows? It kinda seems like it sometimes though."

"Hmmm... Mr. Decour and Ms. Carmina," Alice hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. It might work, since they are something like equals, but in my opinion he needs someone who makes him seem a little more... human. I don't think that a demon would do the trick."

Just then Laurent appeared behind Alice, looking like he had heard everything.

A cough left my mouth and was followed by a few others, before I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing.

Alice didn't need to turn to know that he was standing behind her and she squeezed her eyes shut as if she was scared that he would hit her.

Both Dylan and Emmett looked far too amused by all of this, while Delphine's face showed a guilty expression and she attempted to smile innocently.

"_Quand j'ai te donné la permission de parler de ma vie privée?"_ Now that was something no one was prepared for- Laurent speaking French. It had already bee registered in my head that Laurent had a handsome face.

Slightly almond-shaped eyes, perfectly angled nose, kissable lips, neatly trimmed beard and of course flawless skin. On top of that came the fact that his physique was quite impressive. Muscles that seemed to be made up of rocks and yet he managed to look sorta lean-which probably had to do with his height.

Of course, his weird personality- the way he was all quiet and gloomy- made him appear pretty cool and yet strangely intimidating. That was a plus as well- at least in my book. Now all this time his French accent only added to his obvious sexiness- just stating the obvious- but apparently I had been wrong.

His accent was just the light version of the true sexy talk of Laurent Decour. If his accent was the last pinch of sugar in a cake, him speaking French was like the icing on top. Sure he had spoken French before during class but he had spoken much slower then.

It was just too much.

"_Arrête de pleurer, je voulais simplement répondre à la question. Ce n'est pas comme je leur ai parlé sur tous ton petits secrets sombres," _Delphine replied with a role of her eyes. She spoke just as beautifully as her brother did and when my eyes wandered over to Dylan, who looked at her in awe, a scowl set itself onto my face.

"Can't you deal with your family issues somewhere else?" I interrupted just when Laurent had been about to open his mouth. _"C'est un peu gênant et certainement pas intéressant- du moins non pas pour moi."_

Both of the Decours whipped their heads around to look at me.

Bella and Edward had chosen that moment to appear in my room as well.

"You speak French?" Delphine asked in surprise.

Bella giggled. _"Merveilleux, n'est-il pas?__"_

"Just stop with the French already," Emmett groaned, stomping out of the room.

"Don't tell me that you learned _that_ during French classes," Alice said,"Because I sure can barely introduce myself in French."

I looked at Alice with raised eyebrows. "That's not even true. I copied your French homework the other day."

Laurent cleared his throat to remind us of his presence, but there actually was no need for that since we all knew that he was there.

"Yes, but I can't speak French. I'm good at writing essays and translating but as soon as I'm suppose to talk, I forget everything."

"Well, despite the fact that we have a marvelous French teacher," Bella gestured to Laurent, who shook his head in turn,"We kind of had French classes since... when was it again?"

"The day Mom decided we would look cute with berets," I muttered.

"Three years," Bella exclaimed.

"You know, I still think that it wasn't nice of Mom to sign us up for French classes with that horrible Mademoiselle Ella."

"Yes Chris, I know. You've been telling me that ever since she started teaching us," Bella replied with a sigh.

"Just saying," I mumbled.

"For what it's worth, I think that the woman is crazy. Plus, she bailed on us. No normal person has the flu for over three months."

"I hope she's still sick, because I don't want to spent my vacations with learning French. If I want French, I'll kiss someone."

Delphine laughed at that again. "Baise-moi."

Laurent looked at her in disapproval, shook his head and left the room again, beckoning for Bella to follow him.

I didn't know what his problem just was. All Delphine had said was 'Kiss me!'. He was quite the prude, considering that he was French.

Edward chuckled and said,"You got it wrong, Chris. It may mean 'Kiss me' if you translate it, but it means something entirely different to the French."

With these words he left my room as well along with Emmett and Dylan. Alice decided to keep me company and sat down next to me on my couch, while Delphine resumed with packing my things.

"So what's the deal with you and Dylan?" Alice asked lightly.

I knew that she would ask me that sooner later and all I could do in response was shrug.

Delphine was definitely listening and flicked her wand quickly in the direction of the door to close it before she continued directing my things.

Alice sighed. "He is such an idiot sometimes."

I wasn't sure if she was just voicing her thoughts.

"As if that's anything new," I responded.

Alice looked at me. "Just let him be an idiot a bit longer. Eventually, he'll turn into a guy."

These words were definitely not helpful, but I didn't say anything and just nodded.

XxXxXxXXXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"I can't believe that you are already leaving so early tomorrow," Rose said, while she hugged me once very tightly.

"No sleeping in, thanks to you guys," Emmett added, earning a punch from Rose.

"Good night, Em," I said and pushed him out the door.

"Sleep well, little one." He grinned widely and pulled Rose along.

I closed the door and let out a deep breath.

Walking slowly over to my bed and looking around my now very empty room, I suddenly had a very strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I had to remind myself that I was not leaving for ever otherwise I might have started crying, which would be pretty embarrassing if someone walked in.

Still this sudden and abrupt end of the year made was kind of unsettling.

I thought back to our first encounter with Laurent a year ago. The poor guy would probably never get along with me. I didn't even dislike him in anyway- in fact, he was my favorite teacher apart from the Cullens- but it was just too much fun to get on his nerves.

It was hard to believe that a whole year had passed. So many things had happened during this time and yet, I felt like it wasn't even enough. At least not of the good stuff. The bad things that happened in this school were enough for a whole life time. It was kind of scary that Bella and I had been involved into every disaster that had taken place in this school. Well not disaster, but I was pretty sure that our friends wouldn't have gotten kidnapped back in Phoenix.

I sighed and sank deeper into the pillows. Remembering the first encounter with the Cullens was the last thing I did before I slowly drifted off.

In the middle of a dream about French kissing and Dylan, I was woken up by a sudden sound.

I opened my eyes and looked around the room in alarm.

When I saw someone sitting at the edge of my bed, I was ready to scream bloody murder but the person's hand was on my mouth before I could take a breath.

"Relax Chris, it's just me," Dylan's voice whispered. I squinted my eyes and looked at the dark frame of the person in front of me. I could hardly make out his features but when the familiar scent of Aloe and Apple Blossoms entered my nose, I knew for sure that it was Dylan.

Somehow it was kinda scary how I identified him by his scent.

I yanked his hand away from my mouth and glared at him.

"What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night? Don't tell me you adapted your brothers strange habit to walk into other people's rooms and watch them sleep?"

The mention of Edward, caused Dylan to look around the room once.

"No, I was actually hoping that you'd be awake. Although, I never though it would be so interesting to watch someone sleep."

I could practically hear the grin at the end. I simply groaned in response and turned around.

"Don't you need to sleep?" I mumbled.

"Can't."

"Then read a book or something." I was already halfway in dream land again.

"Chris?"

"hmm?"

"Do you mind if I just cuddle up with you?"

And just like that I was awake again. I couldn't really decipher the tone of his voice, but I didn't dwell on that for too long.

"Why?" I asked in bewilderment.

Dylan shrugged. "I kinda felt like it."

"So you just walked over into my room? How did you manage that anyway?"

"I didn't walk. You forget that I have a very spe-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I cut him of and let my head drop onto the pillow again. "Just get under the blanket and be quiet, please."

I watched Dylan's dark figure as he hurried to get himself comfortable in my bed.

A few seconds later I lay there with his arms around me, my face in the crook of his neck and his breath on my hair.

I wanted to sleep but the fact that Dylan was tracing patterns on my back was quite distracting.

Since sleep was apparently no longer an option, I started to play with his hair.

"You know what?" Dylan asked quietly.

"What?"

"I think I never actually disturbed anyone in the middle of the night just because I felt like cuddling."

"Should I feel special now?" I intended to sound sarcastic, but the little smile on lips made that impossible.

Dylan pulled my face up to his and placed a peck on my lips. "Yes, you should."

"I guess, I will then," I replied and then kissed him back with a lot more force.

Once again I let my instincts take over only this time I didn't get startled.

Bella Pov

"I don't want to go home yet," I mumbled into Edward's chest.

"I don't want you to go either," he answered.

I sighed. "I really wished you could come with me."

Edward chuckled. "It's only for the summer, love. It'll be over before you know it."

"That's not true. Any time you want something to pass it'll go on for ever and I'll have to stand a whole summer without you. Who am I supposed to talk to at the end of the day?"

"I'm sure Chris is more than happy if you talk to her."

"Probably. But talking to you is different. Besides, I can't kiss her."

"Well, you can..."

"That's gross."

I shuddered at the mere thought. Edward just laughed.

"Is that all your going to miss?" he then asked. He sounded playful but I could hear a hint of doubt I his voice.

"No, of course not. I'll miss your hair and your eyes as well. Especially, your eyes. Their gorgeous."

Edward didn't reply to that.

"Then I'll miss having breakfast with you every other morning and I'm not sure how I am supposed to sleep without you now."

At that Edward chuckled quietly again.

I sighed again. "I'll just miss you. You as a whole person. And do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I love you," I sang and giggled afterward.

"Funny," Edward said," I was just thinking the same thing."

"What a surprise, really," I joked.

"You know, maybe I'll come to visit you this summer. I'm pretty sure that your mother is just dying to meet me."

I hit him lightly, when he started laughing.

Every time, Edward had been around when I talked on the phone with my mother she would demand to speak to him as well, so she could test out her shameless flirting skills on him.

It was truly mortifying.

"You know, now that I think about it I don't think I'm gonna miss you all that much."

"What?" Edward asked in mock shock.

I yawned while I nodded my head fiercely.

"You heard me," I muttered before another yawn escaped my mouth.

"I guess it's time to sleep," Edward commented and managed to get both of us out of our seating positions and hugged me close to him while he draped the covers over the two of us.

"I don't really want to sleep," I told him.

"Neither do I, but I also don't want Mr. Decour running in here tomorrow morning and yanking you out without giving me a chance to say good bye."

"I still don't get why he needs to accompany us."

"And unfortunately, I do not have an answer for you."

"That's alright. I still love you." My eyes closed slowly and I yawned once more time.

"I love you too and now sleep."

I nodded and snuggled closer to Edward's warm body.

I vaguely noticed that he was humming something before I drifted off to sleep.

"Bella, love, wake up."

I groaned and threw the pillow in the direction of the voice.

A quiet thump gave me the satisfaction that I needed to continue sleeping.

"That was just rude, Bella," Edward complained and threw the pillow back at me.

"Let me sleep," I moaned.

"Not a chance. Delphine just walked in and had been about to drag you out of bed."

I groaned once more and opened one eye. "What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"It's six o'clock and you are going to be leaving in one hour," Edward replied, sounding like one of those annoying computer voices.

"Get out then, I need to get dressed," I instructed, while I stretched my arms above my head.

Edward chuckled and shook his head at me. "Just make sure to hurry, before I'll have to explain myself to Delphine again. We'll be waiting for you outside."

I nodded and slowly heaved myself out of bed.

Edward placed a quick kiss on my forehead before he left my room, once more telling me to hurry."

I shuffled around my more or less empty room and got all the necessary things for my morning routine out of my bags, before I dragged my feet out of the room and over to Chris'.

I wanted to knock but the door opened before my hand made contact with the door.

"Good morning," Chris all but sang, with a glowing smile on her face.

I raised an eyebrow at that.

"What's gotten you so chipper this morning?" I asked her.

"Oh, this and that..." she let her voice trail off.

"And what is 'this and that'? If it's some kinda drug, you should be sharing it with me, cause I feel kinda heavy this morning."

"Sorry, I don't think it's possible to share that."

She closed her door and both of us went to the bathroom.

"And what exactly is 'that'?" I pressed, starting to get curious.

Chris sighed and rolled her eyes. She pushed the bathroom door open and immediately set her things down at the nearest sink.

I sighed and just let it go. If it was anything of importance Chris would probably tell me sooner or later.

We both got ready in silence, although Chris was humming every now and then. I contemplated intruding her mind, but then discarded the thought. I didn't want her rummaging around in my head all the time so I should keep myself out of hers.

"Are you done?" I asked Chris when I had gathered all of my things.

She nodded and we both stepped out of the bathroom, only to find Laurent waiting directly in front of the door.

"Jesus," I yelped and then put a hand on my heart. It was racing madly while I looked at Laurent in disbelief.

"Were you waiting for us?" I asked him.

He nodded curtly and then stepped aside to let us pass.

"Do you always lurk around in front of the girl's bathroom?" Chris asked in annoyance.

Laurent didn't supply her with an answer.

"We're leaving in ten minutes," he announced and then walked away from us. Only now I noticed the little caravan of suitcases following him.

"That was... kinda weird," I stated as we both looked after him.

"It was," Chris agreed and then suddenly whipped her head around. "Have you heard him yesterday when he spoke French?"

A smile placed itself on my lips. "Yes, I did."

"And?"

"What?"

"What do you think?"

"Of him speaking French?"

"Yes!"

It was a pretty weird question to ask and I wondered why she needed to know what I thought about our teacher's language skills.

"What can I say? He's French so obviously his French is perfect. Although, there was something abnormally beautiful about the way he spoke," I replied thoughtfully.

It was true. When Laurent had argued with his sister in Chris' room, the two bed room doors had been wide open, enabling me to hear every word. My heartbeat had quickened for a second when I had heard him speak, but it passed quickly. Yet, I had to admit that Laurent was a little too attractive to be a teacher. Just like Carlisle and not to forget Esme.

Carlisle alone was enough to make the entire female population of the school swoon.

Sometimes I wondered if the girls that always walked up to him at the beginning of class honestly thought that they stood a chance against Esme.

"Thank God," Chris breathed out.

I looked at her in confusion, not sure if I had missed something.

"I was already fearing that I was weird for thinking that he was hot."

"I never said that he was hot," I replied and raised an eyebrow at her.

Chris waved me off.

"That doesn't matter. You don't have to say it- it's a fact."

I chuckled at her words and then went into my room to put the last of my things into my backpack.

"Let's get going, Bells," Chris called from the door, her bag already slung over her shoulder.

I sighed and looked around the room. It felt kind of weird to be leaving- especially since the departure came all of the sudden.

We merely stepped out of the house when we were suddenly attacked by Alice.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she sobbed while she squeezed every bit of oxygen out of me.

"Can't breathe, Al," I wheezed out.

Alice's grip didn't loosen.

"Alice, stop suffocating her!" Edward exclaimed and came running toward us.

He pried is sister off of me and tried to keep her in place, but she was already endangering Chris' life.

"Alice get off," Chris complained and tried to get rid of the little pixie.

"Never," Alice shouted and tightened her grip.

"Aren't you going to help her?" I asked Edward, watching the two girls wrestle.

"Nah, I think she can manage," he replied lightly ad then looked at me.

The way he looked at me made me feel self-conscious.

"What?"

He waved me toward him."Come here."

I stepped closer to him and he pulled me into a tight- but still gentle- hug.

"It's going t be a long summer without you," he mumbled.

"I'm sure you can manage," I told him.

"Hey Edward, you already got to cuddle up with her all night. Now it's our turn," I heard Emmett complain.

He and Jasper were walking up to us as well, just when car pulled up in front of us.

It was a sleek black Mercedes and the person that stepped out of it was Delphine.

"I see that you're on time," she observed and gave all of us a beautiful smile.

"Help!"I turned toward Chris, who was still struggling with Alice.

"Come on little squirt," Emmett laughed and grabbed Alice. He just heaved her into the air as if she weighed nothing at all and passed her on to Jasper. "It's my turn to hug the life out of the twins."

Chris let out a little yelp before Emmett lifted her up and seemed to be crushing her.

I turned toward Delphine.

"Where's your brother?" I asked.

"Oh, he has take care of some formalities, but he's going to be here any second," she replied and leaned casually against the car.

"I love your outfit," Alice exclaimed and stared at Delphine in awe.

"Thanks," Delphine replied slowly, probably wondering why Alice stared at her like that.

She was wearing a pair of ripped hot pants and a checkered blouse that as tucked inside her pants. Along with that she had several necklaces and bracelets on. It wasn't that special, but Alice was probably more impressed with the way Delphine manged to make herself look so glamorous, although she was wearing pretty casual clothes.

Suddenly, I was being pulled in the air, before I found myself in one of Emmett's bone crushing hugs. It was scary how Alice managed to squeeze people just as tightly as Emmett did.

Sometimes, I really had to wonder if Emmett wasn't her real brother.

"Are you ready to leave?" I heard Laurent's voice asked from somewhere. I couldn't turn to look at him, since Emmett didn't let me have any space at all.

"Not yet," I heard Chris reply.

"I'll miss you, Belly-Beans," Emmett whispered to me.

"Emmett, it's only over the summer," I told him, although I felt exactly the same.

"I know and it's going to be a boring summer without you. You will have to stay in touch."

"And I've got just the thing," Rose's voice suddenly spoke up right beside me.

Emmett set me gently down on the floor again and bot of us turned toward Rose.

She was a little out of breath and I assumed that she had just run over to us.

She handed me a little baggy. I looked at her questioningly, but she only motioned for me to open it and then turned to give Chris one as well.

Inside the little bag was a pocket mirror and I briefly wondered why Rose would give us mirrors.

Sure it was a beautiful mirror. It was golden and had a little rose craved into it.

"It's a Medeis Mirror. Much better than those stupid cellphones and way more sophisticated than this wand messaging crap. All you have to do is open it and then trace the rim of the mirror three times counter-clockwise while you say the name of the person you want to talk to."

"What if I say your name and forget to mention your surname?" Chris asked.

"That won't matter. It's a spell that works basically with your thoughts. If you say my name, you would automatically think of me, so it wont be a random person on the other end," Rose explained quickly.

"That's definitely better than a cellphone," I agreed and then hugged Rose."Thank you."

"No problem. Just make sure to call me as often as possible."

"What about the rest of us?" Jasper asked.

"You already have a mirror," Alice chirped and shoved him lightly.

"Yes, but you don't."

"I have some more in my room. Mom gave them to me a few days ago," Rose replied with a roll of her eye.

"Alright, it's time to leave now." Laurent announced.

"What? No way," Alice complained. She was about to jump on me again, but Jasper heldher back and stepped toward me instead.

"Bye, Bella," he said quietly and patted my head when he let go. I scowled shortly at him, but couldn't help but smile when he grinned.

"Where is Dylan?" Chris asked beside me, suddenly sounding sad.

All of us looked around but didn't see him anywhere.

"That's odd," Edward mumbled.

"He's still in his room," Alice stated. Then her gaze shifted toward Chris. "And he's not coming out."

Chris expression turned thoughtful. "Hmm."

"Get in the car," Laurent pressed impatiently.

I turned toward the car and pulled Chris along while waving at the others.

"See you soon."

Laurent all but pushed us into the car and shut the door.

I had to roll down the window, so that the otehrs could see us.

Laurent hastily walked around the car and Delphine slid into the passengers seat.

"Bye," I called once more to my friends, who all waved at us, with different expressions on their faces. Chris waved as well, but it didn't seem like she was truly paying any mind to them.

I waved until I couldn't see the group anymore and then sunk back in my seat.

Laurent took that as a cue to roll the window up and sped through the streets of the campus.

Now that we were all alone I finally asked the question that had been bothering me for quite some time.

"Why are you taking us to the airport?" I asked Laurent.

"Because you need to get your flight?" he answered, although he made it sound like a question.

"Yes, I know but what I didn't mean that. Couldn't we have taken one of the school buses? Or is everyone going to get a teacher that drives them there?"

Chris' ears perked up at the question, seemingly interested in the answer as well.

Delphine chuckled quietly.

"We're not just taking you to the airport. We're going to fly with you as well," she told us.

Chris and I exchanged brief looks of surprise.

"Why?" we asked in unison.

"Because that's our job," Laurent replied curtly.

"To play babysitter for your students?" Chris asked.

"No, to keep the two of you safe."

"Has this anyting to do with Aro?" I wondered.

"Yes, he's part of the reason."

"And the other part is that you are a guardian, right?" Chris added.

Laurent's face scrunched up in a frown.

"What do you know?" he asked.

"About the guardians?"

"Yes."

"No-" I clamped my hand over Chris' mouth.

"We know that it is your job to guard us," I replied calmly.

Laurent's hands tightend around the steering wheel and Delphine looked worriedly at her borhter.

"What else?" he demanded.

I thought for a moment and let every little detail that I could still remember pass my mind.

If Laurent was supposed to guard us then...

"Alistair was a guardian too, wasn't he?"

Silence followed.

"Yes, he was." Delphine eventually answered quietly- earning an angry look form her brother.

"He told us to come to you when we found out the reason, but I don't know what he meant by that."

"Maybe the reason why we need guards," Chris supplied afer having pushed my hand away.

"What would that reason be?" I asked her.

"Aro," she answered with a shrug.

I nodded slowly, trying to get some order into my thoughts.

"What else did Alistair tell you?" Lauren asked.

"Nothing," Chris and I answered.

"Good. And I will not tell you anything either until _he _has spoken to you."

"Gosh, I wish you would just tell us who _'he' _ is," Chris murmured.

"He's our boss," Delphine replied.

The look Laurent gave her told me that she wasn't supposed to talk that much. I grinned slightly.

"Does this person have a name?" I asked innocently, my eyes trained on the back of Delphine's head.

Laurent let out a sigh.

"His name is Marcus."

Esme Pov

"Honey, what is it?" I asked my husband gently, who was pacing around in the living room and was tugging anxiously on his hair.

"I'm not sure if I can do this," he replied, his voice barely a whisper.

I looked at him, not quite sure what he was talking about. "Do what?"

"Leading this school. I'll have to keep all of them safe and I don't know if I am able to do that."

I got up from the couch and walked towards to put my arms around his waist.

"Of course, you can do it. No one is better suited for this job than you are and I know that the students are ecstatic to have you as their new principal," I reassured him.

"I know that I would be able to do it under normal circumstances but not like this," Carlisle replied and pulled himself out of my hug.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. In all the years that we have been together, I was pretty sure I had never seen my husband so insecure.

"Esme, this school is no longer is a safe place for our students."

"But I thought the IDM was going to work on that?"

"Yes, but that only came up after I had talked to them. It had been my idea to close the school early and I practically forced the IDM to do something about the school's security."

"You forced then?" I asked in wonder. It was hard for me to imagine that.

"Well, I had help from Laurent and his people."

I looked at my husband more closely and realized that there was something that he was not telling me.

"Carlisle, what happened?"

He looked at me and I saw his eyes filling with sadness before he reached into his pocket and held out a crumbled piece of paper towards me.

I took it and unfolded it it before I read the words on it.

_One mistake has called for the shadows._

_Shadows of grief, anger and fear._

_Grief for those who have lost a loved one,_

_anger for those who have missed their chance._

_The fear is for all of you but especially for them. _

_The two that everyone wants to win._

_Why fear? Well, that's simple._

_It's because we are here._

_We lurk in the shadows of grief, anger and fear._

I read the note several times, trying to make sense of it. It didn't give away any information and yet, I felt as if this was threat. A shiver went through my body and I looked up at Carlisle, who looked back at me with the same worried expression.

* * *

_**A/N:**_** Okay first of all... I need to translate hat little French conversation:**

Laurent:"_Quand j'ai te donné la permission de parler de ma vie privée?"_**- **When did I give you the premission to talk about my private life?

Delphine:"_Arrête de pleurer, je voulais simplement répondre à la question. Ce n'est pas comme je leur ai parlé sur tous ton petits secrets sombres."-_ Stop crying, I just answered the question. It's not like I told them about all your dark little secrets.

Chris:_"C'est un peu gênant et certainement pas intéressant- du moins non pas pour moi."-_ It's a little annoying and definitely not interessting- not to me at least.

Bella:_"Merveilleux, n'est-il pas?__"_- Wonderful, isn't it?

**Alright, now that that's cleared... We have made it to the end! Yes, yes I know. The confusion is still there and I probably made you guys even more confused. Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm sorry because I enjoy leaving all of you in the dark. **

**But of course, I love all of you and I really reaaaaally really want to thank you for sticking around this long.**

**It probably hasn't been easy with me and I'm pretty sure that sometimes I write some few crappy things ;) **

**So Thank you for reading this FF and those of you who have reviewed even if just once- Thank You!**

**For some reason I always start typing when I get a review until I suddenly don't know what to type anymore :P**

**Alright, I'm kinda tired and I don't even know what I'm currently typing, so I'll just stop harrassing my keyboard and go to bed. Big chunks of love to all of you and don't forget to leave a little review!**


	25. Very Important Author's Note!

_**A/N:**_** Alright guys, don't get all excited because this is not an update. Yeah, I know author's notes suck but this one is pretty important.**

**People have been asking me over and over again to update and I guess I should have made it clearer that _Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students _is officially over and there are no more updates.**

**Yes, I know this is a sad moment but on the bright side... There is a sequel called _FASGS: The Guardians!_ *cheers* **

**So if you have been dying to know how the story continues, you should definitely go and read that and then leave a review. I'm sorry for not making it clearer that there was a sequel coming up, but now you can all sit back and relax- just like me.**

**I guess, I'll see you over at the other story until then: See ya! ;)**


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